Countries In Review: October 2019

August was a dismal month for country ETFs, with all but two ending up in negative territory. Far and away the worst performer was the Global X MSCI Argentina ETF (ARGT), which was down a breathtaking 30.39% for the month; it was trailed distantly by the iShares MSCI Brazil ETF (EWZ), down 9.15%; and the iShares MSCI South Africa ETF (EZA), down 9.01%. The three best performers were the iShares MSCI Egypt ETF (EGPT), up 9.56%; the iShares MSCI Denmark ETF (EDEN), up 0.35%; and the iShares MSCI Switzerland ETF (EWL), down 0.05%. Flows were almost as distorted. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) lost a whopping $10.5 billion during the month. Trailing far behind in the No. 2 spot for outflows was the iShares China Large- Cap ETF (FXI), with a loss of just $565.9 million; and the iShares MSCI Hong Kong ETF (EWH) claiming the No. 3 spot, with a loss of $415.7 million. The iShares MSCI France ETF (EWQ) had the most inflows, gaining just $46.2 million; the iShares MSCI Switzerland ETF (EWL) gaining $13.5 million; and the Global X MSCI Pakistan ETF (PAK) gaining just $2.9 million.

Index Data Source: MSCI.
Sources: Bloomberg and FactSet.
Data from 07/31/2019 to 08/31/2019.

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.