Which Way Will Japan’s ETFs Swing?

Japan’s exchange traded funds (ETF) have been having a time of it lately.

In 2007, bankruptcies rose to a 4-year high and the country was gripped by a housing slump. Corporate bankruptcies rose for the second consecutive year and construction insolvencies rose to a 4-year high. Few people can seem to agree on what the future holds.

But Carl Delfeld for ETFXRay says that in spite of the bad news, Japanese stocks and ETFs are rebounding off 26-month lows as investors begin to notice some values. Will the weaknesses continue, or will Japan fight its way back?

A few of the ETFs that cover Japan are:

• iShares MSCI Japan Index (EWJ)
• WisdomTree Japan SmallCap Dividend (DFJ)
• SPDR Russell/Nomura PRIME Japan (JPP)
• PowerShares FTSE RAFI Japan (PJO)