Russia’s economy is hurtling toward recovery and, better for those of you playing along at home, exchange traded funds (ETFs) are reflecting the recent moves.
Once hit by the global credit crisis, Russia appears to have overcome it, at least according to the country’s president, says The Voice Of Russia. In fact, this year saw nearly 4% growth, a nice rebound from last year’s 10% slump. [3 ETFs to Play the Russian Economy.]
Now that that’s fairly well resolved, it’s time for the country to focus on other things. The main one will be keeping loans available and affordable and to fight inflationary pressures, Nadia Popova for Dow Jones Newswires reports. To that end, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called this week for lower bank lending rates to the real economy, even as the central bank is expected to continue tightening monetary policy next year. [More Pain Ahead for the Russian Ruble ETF?]
Meanwhile, a major holding in all three Russia ETFs, Norilsk Nickel, is seeing its shares soar this week after it announced a buyback program after it failed to acquire 25% in UC Rusal, an aluminum behemoth.
- Market Vectors TR Russia (NYSEArca: RSX) Norilsk is 13%
- iShares MSCI Russia (NYSEArca: ERUS) Norilsk is 4.6%
- SPDR S&P Russia (NYSEArca: RBL) Norilsk is 7.6%
Tisha Guerrero contributed to this article.
The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Tom Lydon, and may not actually come to pass. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product.