Shorting International Markets With ETFs

Last week ProShares launched the first two of six proposed exchange traded funds (ETFs) that are of the short international exposure. ProShares Short MSCI EAFE (EFZ) tracks the inverse of the daily moves of the MSCI EAFE index and ProShares UltraShort MSCI EAFE (EFU) doubles the inverse of the indexes daily performance. Trang Ho for Investor’s Business Daily reports that the other four are set to launch in November. Short and Ultrashort MSCI Emerging Markets, Ultrashorts on the MSCI Japan and the FTSE/Xinhua 25. These will bring the Short ETFs in the family to 35.

Lawrence Carrel for TheStreet.com reports that ProShares currently provides ETFs that short the U.S. stock market. Now they are betting on declines within international markets. MSCI EAFE is the international index that spans the globe, now the short ETFs give investors a tool to bet against stocks worldwide. The ability to short emerging market stocks will be useful to investors who feel these stocks are becoming overvalued.  As with the other short exposure ETFs, there is risk involved.