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By Jeff Weniger, CFA, Head of Equity Strategy Key Takeaways South Korea's classification as an “emerging” or “developed” market affects funds' allocations, with some emerging markets funds having no exposure to the country. The “Korea Discount” refers to the low valuations placed on South Korea's stocks relative to stocks in other countries.

VWO ETF has underperformed US and global equities in the past decade due to the decline of emerging markets. Investors were sold a growth story that did not materialize. I believe the Fund will continue to underperform in the future because emerging markets tend not to be shareholder-oriented and they carry a high political risk. Emerging markets are full of potential growth stories, but opting for a diversified Emerging Market ETF like VWO won't give you sufficient exposure to these opportunities.

Hello! This is MarketWatch reporter Isabel Wang bringing you this week's ETF Wrap. In this week's edition, we look at ETF strategies that have exploded in popularity in 2023, and whether they will continue to gain momentum in the year ahead.

Emerging Markets have a cheap forward P/E multiple of 11.6, making them compelling from a valuation perspective. Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF offers low cost and exposure to EM country stocks, but its technical situation remains weak. VWO has a large asset size, low expense ratio, and narrow bid/ask spread, but it has underperformed the US equity market and has weak price action.

India is the fastest growing large emerging market on relatively favorable terms with the US, and so is attracting investors. India currently makes up about 18% of broad emerging market ETF allocations, and India-specific ETFs help investors isolate India exposure. In this article, I compare some main US-listed India ETFs as of late 2023, considering which is best for which type of investor.

Many investors are wondering if it's the right time to add exposure to emerging markets. With ongoing market uncertainty and the possibility of a recession, investors may be wary to add exposure to riskier segments of the market.

Today, State Street Global Advisors cut the fees on 10 of its already-rock-bottom-priced “Portfolio” ETFs representing core asset classes. Most notably, the $19.7 billion SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF (SPLG) saw its expense ratio decreased by one-third.

Many emerging markets investors are looking to diversify away companies under Chinese President Xi Jinping's control without sacrificing performance. A solution for investors may be the Hartford Multifactor Emerging Markets ETF (ROAM), which underweights mega-cap tech and China compared to category peers and the benchmark MSCI Emerging Markets index.

Equity markets have seen strong, double-digit capital gains this year, with emerging market equities being an exception with weak, inconsistent single-digit gains. Despite recent underperformance, emerging market equities offer investors cheap prices and good growth prospects, making them a good buy for the future. Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets Index Fund ETF Shares is an emerging market equities index fund, providing diversified exposure to said asset class.

The Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets Index Fund ETF has reacted positively to the recent drop in US inflation and declining interest rate expectations. The VWO tracks the performance of the FTSE Emerging Markets index and offers exposure to large-cap EM stocks with a low expense ratio of 0.1%. Despite recent gains, the outlook for the VWO relative to bonds continues to deteriorate due to rising short-term bond yields and the widening gap between UST yields and the VWO's dividend yield.