2009 Stock Market Returns YTD from Around the World – Shocking!

This emerging markets ETF list is illuminating in that while many of these same ETFs were the worst performers of 2008, they are now the strongest performers of 2009, especially compared to developed nation stock markets.  While historical stock market returns are no guarantee of future results, it is instructive to evaluate which stock markets rebounded strongly in the post-crash environment compared to some that have remained stagnant.  I’ve also included major industrialized market economies for comparison.  As a reference for the stated return for each country, I’ve listed out a predominant ETF representing the requisite exchange, region, basket of stocks or whatever best represents the particular country’s equity markets.  Sorted in order of highest performing first, here are the 2009 stock market returns by country 2009 YTD (UPDATE: See Full-Year 2009 Market Returns):

135%  RSX    Market Vectors Russia ETF Trust
122%  EWZ   Ishares Msci Brazil Index Fund
116%  TKF   Turkish Investment Fund Inc
96%    IF     Indonesia Fund
96%    GXG   Global X/InterBolsa FTSE Colombia 20 ETF
96%    EWS    Singapore Fund
93%    HAO   Claymore AlphaShares China Small Cap Index
92%    INP   iPath MSCI India Index ETN
92%    INP   Ipath Msci India Index Etn
76%    IDX   Market Vectors Indonesia Index ETF
76%    ECH    iShares MSCI Chile Investable Mkt Idx
73%    EWO   Ishares Msci Austria Index Fund
72%    EIS     iShares MSCI Israel Cap Invest Mkt Index
67%    EWD   Ishares Msci Sweden Index Fund
66%    IRL   New Ireland Fund
65%    ISR    iShares MSCI South Korea Index
65%    EWY   Ishares Msci-south Korea Index Fund
63%    EWT   iShares MSCI Taiwan Index
53%    EWM   iShares MSCI Malaysia Index
49%    EWC   Ishares Msci Canada Index Fund
48%    EZA    Ishares Msci South Africa Index Fund
46%    EWW   iShares MSCI Mexico Investable Mkt Idx
42%    EWN   Ishares Msci Netherlands Index Fund
40%    EWP    Spain Fund
39%    EWU   Ishares Msci United Kingdom Index Fund
30%    EWQ   Ishares Msci France Index Fund
27%    EWI   Ishares Msci Italy Index Fund
24%    SPY   SPDR S&P 500 (ETF)
23%    EWL   Ishares Msci Switzerland Index Fund
21%    EWG   Ishares Msci Germany Index Fund
2%      EWJ   iShares MSCI Chile Investable Mkt Idx

2009 Stock Market Returns, especially in emerging markets, have been very volatile by historical measures following the financial collapse of 2008 and a follow-through into 2009 that resulted in complete capitulation the likes of which hasn’t been seen in decades.  Following the March 2009 lows, stocks have rocketed back, many of them leveraged off of a US rally with triple digit returns in just 6 months. For pure speculation/trading near term on further explosive growth in emerging markets, there are even leveraged ETFs for emerging markets, one of which up 190% for the year.  But that’s an anomaly to have a leveraged ETF up that much over a long period of time given the decay in value due to daily rebalancing.  The only way that occurs is a prolonged upward trend with few or no downward corrections along the way.

Recall that during the March capitulation, investors fled risky assets into Treasuries which in turn strengthened the US Dollar causing the gold-dollar correlation to break down for the first time in recent history.  At that time, investors were so nervous that they were actually accepting negative yields on short term maturities just to maintain liquidity.  As this was unprecedented and unsustainable in my view, I then utilized a short Treasury ETF which worked out quite well given the recent return to risky assets.  Additionally, I still have long term positions in a high yield corporate bond ETF at a 12% yield and locked in an 8.5% tax-free yield in a high yield municipal bond ETF. What we’re seeing now is a prolonged weak dollar trend which has boosted all weak dollar ETFs – see how to play this trend with silver-platinum-gold ETFs and currency ETFs which are much easier to trade than relying on the futures market.

It’s handy to have this massive ETF list at your disposal for future reference – bookmark this page or subscribe with the SHARE Button below!

(UPDATE: See Full-Year 2009 Market Returns)

Tagged as: Emerging Market ETFs