New Kids On The Block: A Look At Some New Market Vectors ETFs

Van Eck Global's Market Vectors unit had a busy 2011 on the new ETF front and that level activity increased late in the year when the firm converted six old HOLDRs funds to Market Vectors ETFs. Quiet as it may be kept, Van Eck is currently the sixth-largest U.S. ETF issuer with almost $24.2 billion in assets under management as of the end of November. In 2011, the firm continued rolling out new emerging markets funds, an area in which it has previously been quite successful. Beyond emerging markets ETFs, Market Vectors also found success with some new bond funds that provide income-starved investors with solid yields. We're leaving the recently converted HOLDRs off this list because that conversion took place just a matter of days ago, but don't worry, there are plenty of new Market Vectors ETFs to take a look at in this edition of "New Kids On The Block." Market Vectors Colombia ETF COLX Inception date: March 14 Year-to-date performance: -15% Average daily volume: 380 Investor Appeal Grade: C-. Apparently, there's only room for one Colombia ETF right now and it's not COLX. The ETF has attracted just $1.6 million in assets under management and done little to threaten its more established rival, the Global X FTSE Colombia 20 ETF GXG. That said, if Latin American stocks pop in 2012, COLX could be a winner, at least in terms of attracting fresh investor inflows. Market Vectors CEF Municipal Income ETF XMPT Inception date: July 12 Year-to-date performance: 7% Average daily volume: 3,000 Investor Appeal Grade: B. We recently noted that 2011 was far kinder to muni bonds than experts had predicted and XMPT is one of the ETFs that benefited from that trend. It's AUM total ($4 million) is somewhat low and is expense ratio (1.43%) is high, but there is no getting around that fact that with a 30-day SEC yield of 5.92%, XMPT is a useful tool for conservative, income-minded investors. Market Vectors Russia Small-Cap ETF RSXJ Inception date: April 13 Year-to-date performance: -30% Average daily volume: 3,450 Investor Appeal Grade: B-. That grade might appear generous given the awful performance of this ETF, but the reality is RSXJ is something different when it comes to Russia-specific ETFs. The ETF has been hurt by weakness in emerging markets and political issues specific to Mother Russia. In other words, the premise behind RSXJ was a good one, but the timing of introduction was not. One of the more interesting small-cap funds to watch in 2012. Market Vectors LatAm Aggregate Bond ETF BONO Inception date: May 11 Year-to-date performance: -6% Average daily volume: 2,280 Investor Appeal Grade: B. BONO has a little something for everyone. The ETF holds sovereign and non-sovereign LatAm debt as well as issues denominated in local currency and some denominated in dollars and euros. With $7.2 million in AUM, BONO outperformed many an equity-based LatAm ETF this year, including the iShares MSCI Brazil Index Fund EWZ, by wide margins. Market Vectors Mortgage REIT Income ETF MORT Inception date: August 16 Year-to-date performance: -6% Average daily volume: 17,640 Investor Appeal Grade: A. Raking in $19.5 million in AUM since August is impressive in its own right, but that number is bound to grow as investors take a look at MORT's more important statistics. Those being a 30-day SEC yield of 14.48% and a distribution yield of 11.83%. For income investors, MORT may be one 2011's best new ETFs that no one told them about.