Sanctions and a plane crash were bad news for Russia-focused funds.
Russia-focused equity ETFs fell by almost 8 percent in the past week as a new round of Western sanctions against Russia and as well as news of a Malaysia Airlines commercial flight led some investors to exit positions.
For example, the Market Vectors Russia (RSX | C-63) was the worst performer last week, losing 7.6 percent, followed by the iShares MSCI Russia Capped (ERUS | B-94), which was down 7.2 percent and the SPDR S&P Russia (RBL | D-69), which lost 6.8 percent.
Russia remains one of the more vexing investment propositions, with some seeing deep value there and others unwilling to take any positions in the country. The cautious group fears that the conflict between Ukraine and Russia is but one of many similar situations in the region that have featured and will continue to feature restive Russian minorities garnering support from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
On the flip side, last week’s volatility paved the way for volatility focused products leading all funds in performances, including the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX | A-47) and the ProShares VIX Short-Term (VIXY | A-47), which gained 4.7 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively. Volatility ETPs, while hardly investments, reliably spike when stocks drop sharply.
Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded
| Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
| VXX | iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN | 4.72% | 185,027,024 | 1,097.34 |
| VIXY | ProShares VIX Short-Term | 4.61% | 4,704,287 | 108.22 |
| UAE | iShares MSCI UAE Capped | 4.55% | 113,433 | 57.13 |
| VIIX | VelocityShares VIX Short Term ETN | 4.47% | 287,808 | 7.54 |
| FOIL | iPath Pure Beta Aluminum ETN | 3.67% | 6,684 | 3.02 |
| QAT | iShares MSCI Qatar Capped | 3.59% | 369,812 | 34.64 |
| CHII | Global X China Industrials | 3.18% | 3,436 | 3.08 |
| CHXF | WisdomTree China Dividend ex-Financials | 3.09% | 11,838 | 18.92 |
| CHXX | EGShares China Infrastructure | 3.04% | 44,379 | 8.26 |
| EDV | Vanguard Extended Duration Treasury | 3.04% | 194,238 | 229.43 |
Bottom 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded
| Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
| RSX | Market Vectors Russia | -7.59% | 39,779,686 | 1,577.90 |
| XBI | SPDR S&P Biotech | -7.58% | 3,654,274 | 976.58 |
| ERUS | iShares MSCI Russia Capped | -7.24% | 2,260,412 | 321.27 |
| GRWN | iPath Pure Beta Softs ETN | -6.87% | 1,044 | 0.87 |
| RBL | SPDR S&P Russia | -6.78% | 64,659 | 24.91 |
| GAZ | iPath Dow Jones-UBS Natural Gas Total Return ETN | -5.60% | 164,666 | 25.07 |
| ESR | iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Eastern Europe | -5.36% | 53,469 | 140.30 |
| RSXJ | Market Vectors Russia Small-Cap | -5.07% | 431,832 | 55.78 |
| BBH | Market Vectors Biotech | -5.06% | 474,927 | 486.06 |
| IBB | iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology | -4.86% | 9,101,745 | 4,595.72 |
Disclaimer: All data as of 6 a.m. Eastern time the date the article is published. Data is believed to be accurate; however, transient market data is often subject to subsequent revision and correction by the exchanges.
