Predicting Global Business Growth With Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)

With over US$1 Trillion in assets at the end of 2007, ETFs have become a major global investment tool.

Tom Lydon, the US-based Global Guru of ETFs, defines them as “a basket of securities that represents a specific sector, region or specific index. ETFs are like a mutual fund, yet trade throughout the day like a stock. They are priced and traded continually throughout the day, and provide transparency, liquidity, and cost efficiency.”

Tom, who is a regular on CNBC, MarketWatch and Bloomberg, sees ETFs becoming the way for investors – business people – to measure growth around the world. He also shows on his website how “Global markets will no longer be in sync with the U.S. market.” Hence, he believes monitoring ETFs is the way to know where the world’s economy is going.

Regular readers of this blog and companies we help go global will know that we are always seeking new tools to rank countries as places to do business. Country ETFs provide, we believe, a window on how well the local economy is doing. A growing economy – with appreciating stock indiex ETF – could be a place for foreign companies to invest.

In his 2007 Year End Report, Tom Lydon makes 10 ETF predictions that should be read and understood by all business people doing global business. Check out Tom’s predictions at the link on the right side of this page.