ProShares Launches Short International ETF

The other four are set to float in November: Short and UltraShort MSCI Emerging Markets and UltraShorts on the MSCI Japan and the FTSE/Xinhua 25. The new releases bring ProShares' total number of short ETFs to 35.

ProShares touts a few advantages to taking a long position in a short ETF over shorting. Investors do not have to open a margin account, and one can technically lose only 100% of the money invested -- whereas one could theoretically lose more than 100% of the amount in a short position because a stock can go infinitely higher.

Inversing A Mammoth ETF

The Short MSCI EAFE essentially will do the opposite of the $44 billion iShares MSCI EAFE Index (NYSE: - ) -- the largest international ETF. The index contains 830 names from Europe, Asia and Australia. It's most heavily weighted in companies from the United Kingdom at 22%, followed by Japan at 20%, France 10% and Germany 8%.

The portfolio is heavily weighted in financials with a 28% weighting; industrials, 12%; consumer discretionary, 11%; materials, 10%; consumer staples, 8%; and energy, 7%.

In the past 12 months, the EAFE index has returned 21% vs. 11% for the S&P 500 as of Friday. It's returned 23% on a three- and five-year annualized basis vs. 13% over the same periods for the S&P.

International Blue Chips

Half of the index's top 10 holdings hit new highs last week. BHP Billiton (NYSE: - ), BP (NYSE: - ) and Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: - ) flew as crude oil boiled to a record intraday high of $92.22 a barrel. The record came on worries about supply and rising tension in the Middle East.

Royal Dutch Shell reported an 18% jump in third-quarter earnings and an 8% year-over-year increase in sales. The company said the results were satisfactory, considering weaker refining margins throughout the industry.

Nokia (NYSE: - ), the world's leading handset maker, and Vodafone Group (NYSE: - ), Britain's telecom giant, soared to recovery highs.

In the third quarter, Nokia sold 111.7 million units, 21/2 times more than its leading rival, Samsung Electronics, which sold 42.6 million units.

Vodafone surged nearly 12% in heavy trade last week. The boost was attributed to surprising third-quarter results by rival France Telecom (NYSE: - ). A Morgan Stanley analyst said the results reflected an accelerating quarterly trend in mobile revenue growth in the U.K.