When analyzing the structure of a market, one of the commonly leveraged tools is the minimum spanning tree (MST).  Calculated based on the correlation between the return of assets in a market, the MST represents asset clustering and overall structure in an intuitive and graphical way.

    Though this sounds overly abstract and devoid of application, the MST often serves as a good check for portfolio allocation.  In order to obtain optimal portfolios for realistic investment goals, you simply must diversify at least somewhat.  Diversification, however, comes at an additional cost to managing the portfolio.  The constraints here are that you need to achieve reasonable diversification with the least cost possible.

    Coming on the heels of my look at the overall ETF market in the last three months, and using the same data set, this entry is meant to provide an overview of the country-specific MSCI ETFs.

    So the average MSCI ETF gained about 0.14% daily, with the Netherlands in first and Taiwan in last.  The trend is relatively clear - most economies have seen solid growth, while Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Japan have struggled to tread water.  It's interesting to note that the same issues do not seem to have affected Singapore, Malaysia, or Korea.