Global Markets Largely Flat
12/14/2010 0 comments
Global indices provide important insight into international equity markets. It plays an important role in asset allocation strategy such as our Tactical Asset Allocation. We track detailed weekly country economic trend movements. We use ETFs that represent each geographic region and present the results here.
|
Assets Class |
Symbols |
12/10 |
12/03 |
Direction |
|
South Africa |
(EZA) |
16.09% |
18.0% |
v |
|
Taiwan |
(EWT) |
16.01% |
16.11% |
v |
|
South Korea |
(EZA) |
14.03% |
14.47% |
v |
|
Russia |
(RSX) |
13.92% |
13.98% |
v |
|
Mexico |
(EWW) |
13.17% |
14.69% |
v |
|
Malaysia |
(EWM) |
12.9% |
11.87% |
^ |
|
Austria |
(EWO) |
12.25% |
11.34% |
^ |
|
Hong Kong |
(EWH) |
11.62% |
14.4% |
v |
|
Germany |
(EWG) |
10.18% |
11.62% |
v |
|
Canada |
(EWC) |
10.13% |
10.99% |
v |
|
Singapore |
(EWS) |
10.12% |
10.98% |
v |
|
Australia |
(EWA) |
9.66% |
10.77% |
v |
|
United Kingdom |
(EWU) |
8.25% |
6.82% |
^ |
|
Switzerland |
(EWL) |
7.89% |
7.46% |
^ |
|
Japan |
(EWJ) |
6.04% |
7.59% |
v |
|
India |
(INP) |
6.0% |
10.59% |
v |
|
The Netherlands |
(EWN) |
5.08% |
4.71% |
^ |
|
France |
(EWQ) |
4.35% |
3.64% |
^ |
|
Belgium |
(EWK) |
4.34% |
4.95% |
v |
|
Brazil |
(EWZ) |
3.6% |
8.23% |
v |
|
China |
(FXI) |
1.33% |
3.69% |
v |
|
Italy |
(EWI) |
-0.03% |
0.73% |
v |
|
Spain |
(EWP) |
-1.87% |
-0.06% |
v |
Top Five Indicators
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Following South Africa Central Bank’s announcement to cut interest rate 50 basis points three weeks ago, the iShares MSCI South Africa Index (EZA) has performed quite well until last week, when it ended the week flat. Inflation remains as a key risk in the SA market if the country’s currency reverses its recent strengthening trend and weakens.
Even amid uncertainty and tensions on the Korean peninsula, the iShares MSCI South Korea Index Fund (EWY) has outperformed the broader market significantly, with a +22% year-to-date performance. Looking ahead to 2011, if South Korean can keep its growth up with strong export and carefully manage the North Korea tensions, 2011 may continue to be a nice year for (EWY).
Despite renewed optimism over global growth prospects, European markets ended the week lower. The outlook for Spain remains tepid – the country is coming off of a third month of contraction in the private sector and there are concerns about the country’s economy falling into a double-dip recession. The iShares MSCI Spain Index (EWP) is down 19.2% year-to-date and 2011 might remain a tough year for the ETF.
Investors showed reluctance toward the iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index ahead of potentially more tightening by China at the past weekend. The Chinese Central Bank has already increased bank reserve requirements six times this year in hopes to cool inflation and excessive speculation in housing. (FXI) is up 3.6% year-to-date, with China’s equity markets lagging behind the broader emerging markets.
labels:investment,
Symbols:AGG,BND,CIU,CSJ,DBA,DBC,EEM,EFA,EWA,EWC,EWG,EWH,EWI,EWJ,EWK,EWL,EWM,EWN,EWO,EWP,EWQ,EWS,EWT,EWU,EWW,EWY,EWZ,EZA,FXI,GSG,HYG,ICF,IEF,INP,IWM,IYR,JNK,LQD,MBB,MDY,MUB,PHB,QQQQ,RSX,SHV,SHY,SPY,TLT,USO,VEU,VNQ,VWO,
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