These single-country ETFs have delivered big-time in 2013.
Many single-country ETFs have delivered outsized performance relative to the U.S. stock market this year, and each for different reasons.
There’s no question that investors have been embracing international equity funds this year, which now represent roughly $1 in every $5 invested in U.S.-listed ETFs.
Here we rank the top six best-performing single-country plays in ascending order, and tell you why these funds have been delivering big returns:
6. The iShares MSCI Finland Capped ETF (EFNL | C-93) is up 34.8 percent year-to-date
Investors are increasingly confident that Europe has emerged from its worst recession since the eurozone was formed 14 years ago. Moreover, Northern Europe was always somewhat insulated from the southern European economies most crippled by the continent’s debt crisis.
By and large, improving economic indicators in the region have shown a strengthening level of consumer confidence, even while unemployment rates remain steady and government spending in general remains tight.
EFNL is one of three northern Europe ETFs to rank high in terms of year-to-date performances. Again, these countries are gaining on a forging Eurozone economic recovery that seems to have shaken off recessionary pressures for good earlier this year.
The fund is still extremely small with under $15 million in total assets, but it does a great job capturing the Finnish equities universe.
