Country ETFs: Germany leads the way up this week
04/30/2011 0 comments
A retirement portfolio that includes both foreign and domestic investments can provide for more diversification, with more opportunities for growth. This article will focus on country specific ETFs, and how they have been performing.
International equity ETFs are available in several types. These include specific developed countries, specific emerging countries, specific frontier countries, as well as ETFs that hold equities from multiple countries and in several sectors and industries. The ETF provider iShares®, for several years, has been one of the leaders in Country ETFs, however there are several other ETF providers that have been offering an interesting line up of investments. Another interesting provider is Van Eck, with their Russia (RSX) ETF.
We follow twenty three Country ETFs, and their performance over the past year is in the following table: (You can view this table here also- Global Stocks Trend). I have added the Total US Stock Market ETF (VTI) for comparison (in bold italics), - interesting that it ranks right about in the middle in terms of Trend Score.
As the Dollar sells off and the Euro rallies this week, Germany (EWG), up over 5%, ranks at the top of the list in Trend Score. You can see from the list that some of the countries that are performing well, year over year, are resource rich. Australia, South Africa, Canada and Russia, are major producers of minerals and mining, and energy.
The countries that are outperforming the US Stock Market are probably doing better for several reasons. One reason is that the US is exporting inflation. Another is higher economic growth rates in those countries.
Global Stocks Trend, ranked by 'Trend Score' - as of Friday April 29
|
Description |
Symbol |
1Week |
4Weeks |
13Weeks |
26Weeks |
52Weeks |
Trend Score |
|
Germany |
EWG |
5.07% |
9.10% |
15.12% |
20.77% |
34.55% |
16.92% |
|
South Korea |
EWY |
0.89% |
4.91% |
12.40% |
27.17% |
33.40% |
15.76% |
|
South Africa |
EZA |
3.61% |
3.60% |
18.63% |
15.98% |
31.47% |
14.66% |
|
Switzerland |
EWL |
3.72% |
10.04% |
12.39% |
18.41% |
27.05% |
14.32% |
|
Belgium |
EWK |
4.42% |
9.24% |
17.56% |
12.14% |
26.80% |
14.03% |
|
Australia |
EWA |
0.82% |
4.98% |
15.06% |
18.47% |
23.67% |
12.60% |
|
France |
EWQ |
4.41% |
6.09% |
12.93% |
15.03% |
23.62% |
12.41% |
|
Italy |
EWI |
5.89% |
7.70% |
13.20% |
13.19% |
20.95% |
12.18% |
|
Taiwan |
EWT |
2.56% |
5.96% |
2.63% |
17.35% |
28.34% |
11.37% |
|
Spain |
EWP |
5.63% |
6.76% |
12.25% |
9.92% |
19.13% |
10.74% |
|
The Netherlands |
EWN |
3.45% |
3.45% |
12.31% |
15.11% |
19.23% |
10.71% |
|
United Kingdom |
EWU |
2.08% |
5.29% |
10.46% |
13.21% |
21.25% |
10.46% |
|
US Stocks |
VTI |
2.01% |
2.40% |
7.85% |
18.72% |
19.58% |
10.11% |
|
Canada |
EWC |
-0.41% |
-0.68% |
8.67% |
17.77% |
20.65% |
9.20% |
|
Russia |
RSX |
-0.63% |
-3.20% |
6.82% |
20.65% |
22.01% |
9.13% |
|
Austria |
EWO |
0.50% |
1.18% |
7.70% |
13.96% |
21.52% |
8.97% |
|
Malaysia |
EWM |
1.08% |
0.47% |
5.85% |
8.51% |
27.13% |
8.61% |
|
Mexico |
EWW |
0.88% |
0.91% |
6.95% |
12.33% |
21.93% |
8.60% |
|
Singapore |
EWS |
0.49% |
5.17% |
5.24% |
8.40% |
23.12% |
8.48% |
|
Hong Kong |
EWH |
-0.87% |
1.47% |
1.04% |
4.32% |
27.03% |
6.60% |
|
Brazil |
EWZ |
-1.12% |
-1.89% |
7.13% |
4.12% |
11.01% |
3.85% |
|
China |
FXI |
-2.50% |
-0.62% |
7.57% |
0.93% |
12.41% |
3.56% |
|
Japan |
EWJ |
3.03% |
2.23% |
-3.57% |
5.81% |
2.04% |
1.91% |
|
India |
INP |
-1.60% |
-1.90% |
9.64% |
-6.55% |
8.05% |
1.53% |
The trend score is defined as the average of 1, 4, 13, 26 and 52 week total returns (including dividend reinvested).
Another benefit of these Country ETFs is currency diversification. Owning these ETFs is like owning a basket of currencies from outside the US.
These ETFs are on my retirement account watch list this year.
Disclosure: MyPlanIQ does not have any business relationship with the company or companies mentioned in this article. It does not set up their retirement plans. The performance data of portfolios mentioned above are obtained through historical simulation and are hypothetical.
Symbols: EWY, EWA, EWG, EZA, EWC, EWT, EWL, RSX, EWK, EWS, EWO, SPY, EWU, EWM, EWW, EWQ, EWH, EWN, EWZ, FXI, EWI, EWP, INP, EWJ
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