October 07, 2007 at 8:00 am by Tom Lydon
Although consumer confidence in the European markets has been shaky lately, some exchange traded funds (ETFs) seem likely to bounce back in the coming months. One such country is Belgium, which has previously seen such a trend. The Belgian National Bank’s business confidence gauge, which is often a main indicator of euro-zone economic growth, dropped to its lowest level in more than five years in September 2001. However, it rebounded a month later and continued to stabilize in the following months, reports Emma Charlton for MarketWatch. Currently, iShares MSCI Belgium Index (EWK) is up 7.5% year-to-date and is nearing in on its long-term trend line (200-day moving average).
Belgium has a modern, private-enterprise economy that has taken advantage of its central geographic location, highly developed transport network and diversified industrial and commercial base. The country has few natural resources and must import raw materials and export a large volume of manufactures. This makes its economy unusually dependent on the performance of world markets. Public debt is more than 90% of Belgium’s GDP, according to the CIA World Factbook.
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