The following NETS trade on NYSE Arca, and February 9, 2009 will be the last trading day of these funds:

Operational Funds                                                  Symbol
NETS(TM) S&P/ASX 200 Index Fund (Australia)          AUS
NETS(TM) BEL 20(R) Index Fund (Belgium)                BRU
NETS(TM) Hang Seng China Enterprises Index Fund   SNO
NETS(TM) CAC40(R) Index Fund (France)                   FRC
NETS(TM) DAX(R) Index Fund (Germany)                    DAX
NETS(TM) Hang Seng Index Fund (Hong Kong)            HKG
NETS(TM) ISEQ 20(TM) Index Fund (Ireland)                IQE
NETS(TM) TA-25 Index Fund (Israel)                            TAV
NETS(TM) S&P/MIB Index Fund (Italy)                         ITL
NETS(TM) TOPIX(R) Index Fund (Japan)                      TYI
NETS(TM) AEX-index(R) Fund (The Netherlands)          AEX
NETS(TM) PSI 20(R) Index Fund (Portugal)                  LIS
NETS(TM) FTSE Singapore Straits Times Index Fund   SGT
NETS(TM) FTSE/JSE Top 40 Index Fund (South Africa) JNB
NETS(TM) FTSE 100 Index Fund (United Kingdom)       LDN
NETS(TM) FTSE CNBC Global 300 Index Fund             MYG
NETS(TM) Tokyo Stock Exchange REIT Index Fund      JRE

This decision was made after consulting with the internal investmentadvisory group Northern Trust Investments, N.A., which is theinvestment advisor to the 17 funds. 

Any shareholders who still hold shares after the delisting date will beentitled to receive cash in a distribution amount that is the same asthe determined net asset value determined on February 20.

This is the beginning of the end for Northern trust in the ETFbusiness.  It’s press release is even titled "NORTHERN TRUST TO EXITETF BUSINESS."  ETF’s are a great tool when they are liquid and whenthey are well known or offer a specific goal.  But there are many ETF’son the market which have no business being listed as tradinginstruments because they are too complex, too illiquid, or toodifficult to understand.

As small as the ETF’s are, this is a non-event for Northern Trust stock.  But it will be a black eye against it if it wants to go back into exchange traded vehicles.   It also serves as a warning to other ETF or ETN launches if the vehicles are going to be too complicated or if they will have a hard time raising ample capital.

Jon C. Ogg
January 27, 2009

According to the data in the release about this, Japanese real estaterepresents over 10% of investment opportunities in the global realestate market.  This is under Northern Trust’s NETS(tm) program, itsNorthern Exchange Traded Shares(tm).  This will be the sixteenth NETSproduct, but is the first which is exclusively dedicated to the JapaneseREIT sector.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange REIT Index is a market capitalization weightedindex of all REITs listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The index is aprice return index and was assigned a base index value of 1000 as ofMarch 31, 2003.  From its launch date to its peak in mid-2007 the indexrose to above 2,500 and Bloomberg now lists this index at 1,196.40. 

Many of the ETF’s listed in the NETS program are still very thinly traded ETF’s with low average daily volume.

Jon C. Ogg
September 8, 2008