"While watching the Olympics, I couldn't thinking about the investment opportunities of the various countries participating in the games," says exchange-traded fund expert Carl Delfeld.

Recognizing that this is not a "scientific" approach nor a primary basis for seriously determining one's asset allocation the editor of Around the World with ETFs speculates, "While it is admittedly a stretch, let's consider what an ETF porfolio of the top ten countries in the Beijing Olympics medal count would look like."

"I hope that while watching the Olympic games many investors were also reminded at how the world is changing and why they need a global portfolio to capture value and growth around the world.

"The U.S. did remarkably well across the board underscoring its role as the world's leading investment destination. China surged to win the most gold and reach the symbolic level of 100 medals.

"Quite an achievement that punctuates China's growing heft. With the Shanghai Composite down 55% this year, it has come down to earth and is interesting from a valuation perspective.

"Next comes Russia with a performance fueled by a strong Olympian tradition and petro dollars but perhaps a bit overshadowed by the Georgian fiasco. I will take a pass on this one even though it is off 36% since just May.

Investors who are looking to gain exposure to one of the top performing global markets, may be interested in a new ETF that starts trading today. The Tel-Aviv 25 index is the main Israeli large-cap stock index and has produced triple digit returns over the last four years. While Israel is known to have more publicly traded companies in the U.S. than any other country in the world, the make-up of the local TA 25, is mostly a domestic play on banks, phone companies, supermarket chains and other domestic consumption plays. The Israeli companies that trade in the U.S. are mostly hi-tech firms.

A few months ago Ishares launched an ETF on locally traded Israeli stocks. The Ishares MSCI Israel Index (NYSE: EIS) has done quite well, but there is an inherent flaw in the make-up of the ETF. The index gives Israeli generic drug giant, Teva Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ: TEVA) a colossal 25% weighting, basically leaving investors with a, "Where Teva goes, so goes the ETF" type of investment.

Starting today, the EIS will be joined by another ETF. Northern Trust (NASDAQ: NTRS) is launching the TAV, an ETF based on the TA 25. The ETF will try to follow the TA 25, and rarely will have an individual stock weighted above 10%.

For investors looking for some international exposure, take a look at Israel and research the new ETFs on the market. It's a good way to gain entrance and exposure to a flourishing market.

Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. DISCLOSURE: Writer's fund has no position in any stock mentioned, as of 5/27/08

I've just returned from the World Money Show, where some 10,000+ investors gathered to learn about global investing. I had a chance to meet with many of the advisors who were featured at the show, and I am highlighting some of their favorite investment ideas. To view all of the stocks featured in this special global report, click here.

"One of the fastest-growing investment vehicles in the history of the financial markets is the exchange-traded fund," notes Chuck Carlson, editor of The DRIP Investor.

"And the company behind iShares exchange-traded funds is not an American company. It is a United Kingdom-based company. That company is Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS), which operates in more than 60 countries and manages more than $1 trillion of the world's money.

"ETFs are still very much in their fast-growth phase. While assets have grown sharply, many investors still are not familiar with these investments. That will change over the next few years. With a strong brand and big first-mover advantage, Barclays has positioned itself to be the major beneficiary of this huge expected growth.

"Meanwhile, takeovers are occurring on almost a daily basis. The takeover mania is being fueled by a tidal wave of liquidity. Private equity firms, hedge funds, and corporate America are awash in cash, and they are putting that cash to work by buying firms. And Barclay's is one stock that has reportedly been in the cross-hairs of a buyer.

I've just returned from the World Money Show, where some 10,000+ investors gathered to learn about global investing. I had a chance to meet with many of the advisors featured at the show, and I have been highlighting some of their favorite investment ideas. To view all of the stocks featured in this special global report, click here.

"As we head into 2007, some of the songs from 2006 will remain the same, chief among them the thirst for large-cap stocks in the established markets of the U.S., Europe, and Japan," says mutual fund and ETF expert Jim Lowell. "Of those three marketplaces, one stands out as not having participated in last year's global rally; Japan.

"Such a perspective isn't shared by any of its Pacific Rim neighbors or emerging market players, all of which have enjoyed nearly nonstop gains for several years in a row, and most of which are trading at recent or historical highs. Overall, that makes Japan interesting from both a valuation and a contrarian perspective."

Here, the editor of The Forbes ETF Advisor reviews his buy-rated Japan exchange-traded funds:

"Japan, the world's second largest economy, continues to recover nicely from its epic recession. It also continues to benefit from its location. The iShares MSCI Japan Index (NYSE:EWJ) covers nearly the entire market capitalization of the Japanese markets, but the ETF correlates most closely with the Nikkei 225 (Japan's equivalent to our S&P 500).

"Its top holdings include stocks such as Toyota Motor (NYSE:TM) and Sony (NYSE:SNE). Blue chips in the land of the rising sun haven't always risen; but I think there time has come.

For the past two decades, Jim Lowell developed an industry-leading expertise in analyzing mutual funds, with a particular focus on Fidelity funds. During that time he developed an annual feature known as his "Hot Hands" pick.

He explains, "Those who have followed my Fidelity Investor newsletter know that one trick in our proprietary playbook has been buying the previous year's best performing Fidelity fund and sticking with it for the new year. More often than not it turns out to be a big winner."

Given the growing popularity of exchange-traded funds, Lowell recently launched a new service, The Forbes ETF Advisor. And for the first time, he is applying his Hot Hands approach to ETFs.

He cautions that this strategy has not beaten the market every year. However, he says, "It has provided very healthy long-term result and I believe that many growth-oriented investors could improve their performance by putting a reasonable (5% to 10%) portion of their money to work following my Hot Hands strategy."

He explains, "Here are the ground rules for the strategy. First I looked at all of the diversified ETFs for each year between 2000 and 2006. I excluded single-sector ETFs, and on the international side, I excluded the geographically nondiversified (single country) international ETFs.

Each year Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, surveys the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is part of his 24th annual Top Picks Report.

iShares Sweden ETF (NYSE: EWD) is the top speculative idea for 2007 from Nick Vardy, editor of The Global Bull Market Alert.

He explains, "Political revolutions can mean big stock market gains. The Reagan revolution unleashed an era of strong economic growth; ditto for the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia, where economic reforms were followed quickly by big bull markets and big profits for investors who got in on the game early.

"Such a political revolution just happened in Sweden, where the Social Democrats were voted out of office. After holding power for 65 of the past 74 years, Swedish voters opted for an economic model that looks a lot more like Maggie Thatcher than Scarlett Johansson.

"The agenda of the winning center-right alliance is to lower taxes, deregulate the economy, and sell state shareholdings in listed companies, which will clear the way for cross-border mergers or acquisitions of listed companies. Investment bankers already have descended on Stockholm.

Each year Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, surveys the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is part of his 24th annual Top Picks Report.

MSCI EAFE Value (NYSE: EFV), an exchange-traded fund, is the top speculative selection for 2007 from Leonard Goodall, editor of No-Load Portfolios.

"More aggressive investors should give international exposure to their portfolios, and this exchange-traded fund tracks the value sector of Morgan Stanley's Europe, Australia, and Far East benchmark. Every investor today, from very conservative to very aggressive, should have an international component in their portfolio.

"This fund will enable the investor to profit from worldwide growth patterns, but the fact that it emphasizes the value stocks in the index means that it should also provide some protection against market downturns.

"Because the fund is new, it has no long-term record, but it has a one-year return of 29.9%. Investors should not buy this fund to "chase performance," nor should they expect that return in the future. Rather they would do well to add ETFs to their holdings if they want to build a balanced, well-diversified portfolio."

To see Leonard's favorite conservative ETF for 2007, click here.