February 18, 2008 at 1:00 pm by Tom Lydon
While the United States is still trying to sort out its own health care system, perhaps it’s time to take a more global perspective with health exchange traded funds (ETFs).
Here, we’re trying to figure out who will be insured and to what extent, and the FDA approval process can hinder the rate of new drug development by biotechnology companies.
With that, Gary Gordon for Seeking Alpha singles out the iShares S&P Global Healthcare Index Fund (IXJ) for several reasons:
- It’s one-third less volatile than the S&P 500
- There’s exposure to England, Switzerland and France (France has the world’s third-largest health care budget; England provides free health care to all residents of the United Kingdom; health care is compulsory in Switzerland)
- Its five-year returns are within a few percentage points of the broader S&P 500, and with less risk
This fund sits far below its trend line (200-day moving average), so wait until it migrates back above before taking a look.
Tags: Europe, EWL, EWQ, EWU, France, GUR, Healthcare, Switzerland, United Kingdom
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