Latin America and Its ETFs On the Upswing

There’s been a lot of talk about Asia’s performance this year, but Latin America and its exchange traded funds (ETFs) that have been performing nicely too.

PlanetQuant crunched the numbers and released their Global Equity Scorecard this week. They write on Seeking Alpha that the iShares MSCI Pacific ex-Japan (EPP) is down 9.1% for the past month, and some of the Asian country-focused ETFs declined in the same time period, including iShares MSCI Taiwan Index (EWT), iShares MSCI Australia Index (EWA) and iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index (FXI). EPP is up 19% year-to-date.

It’s Latin America that has become a star in the emerging markets sector. iShares S&P Latin America 40 Index (ILF) is down only 0.2% for the past month and up 45.9% year-to-date. Brazil has the highest return of any of the countries: the iShares MSCI Brazil Index (EWZ) is up 69.5% year to date. Even the iShares MSCI Mexico Index (EWW), once ranked low on the scorecard, is creeping up. PlanetQuant says volatility in Latin America has risen, but it’s not as high as that in China or the Asia Pacific ex-Japan.

Plentiful natural resources in Latin America may help it remain a strong performer for the near future.