Invest in the Middle East -- but Not With Oil

Two new frontier-market funds have come out recently -- the WisdomTree Middle East Dividend Fund(GULF Quote) and the Market Vectors Gulf States Index ETF(MES Quote). Like the PowerShares MENA Frontier Markets Fund(PMNA Quote), they obviously focus on the Middle East.

What's more, they could be right for your portfolio, if you take the time to figure out which of them works best for you.

The frontier segment is becoming more important, as opposed to the emerging-market segment, because these frontier countries are building their economies, and funds such as these can be useful for portfolio diversification. The correlation for most emerging markets to the U.S. has gone up in recent years, as U.S.-based investors have flooded that segment, but frontier-segment countries continue to have little correlation.

To make matters even better, the frontier space is becoming more accessible -- and anyone interested in the space should look at all the choices, decide whether any exposure is appropriate, and then try to choose the fund that makes the most sense to them. ...