Countries In Review: February 2021

December was a remarkable month for country ETFs, with only two landing in negative territory. The Global X MSCI Colombia ETF (GXG) led the way, with a gain of 19.76%; followed closely by the iShares MSCI Turkey ETF (TUR), which was up 19.28%; and more distantly by the iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (EWY), up 13.47%. The funds that were the worst performers were either barely down at all for the month or actually slightly positive. They included the VanEck Vectors Egypt Index ETF (EGPT), down 1.01%; the iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF (KSA), down 0.14%; and the iShares China Large-Cap ETF (FXI), up 0.27%. Flows were mixed, with the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) bleeding $4.3 billion, the iShares MSCI Germany ETF (EWG) losing $350.2 million and the iShares MSCI Chile ETF (ECH) giving up $32.2 million. At the other end of the spectrum, the iShares MSCI India ETF (INDA) pulled in more than any other ETF, at $753 million; while EWY gained $374.7 million and the iShares MSCI Japan ETF (EWJ) attracted $325.2 million.

Note: This list intends to capture the returns of most liquid ETFs tracking individual countries around the world. It does not capture every country in the MSCI All Country World Index.