ETFs: South sea pearls

Much of the impetus for the worldwide recovery is coming from the developing markets, in areas like the Asia Pacific. According to Citibank, global real gross domestic product is forecast to expand by 3.8% this year, with about 40% attributable to the fast growing economies of Asia ex-Japan.   In spite of this strong economic performance the returns for investors continue to be highly volatile. During the credit crisis the region's main benchmark, the MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan index, lost almost two thirds of its value. It has now nearly doubled from the low in the first quarter of 2009...