What will happen to the Belgium exchange traded fund (ETF) as voters elected to have a new government after eight years with the current prime minister? Belgium is made up of the Dutch-speaking region, Flanders, and the French-speaking region, Wallonia. Flanders is the larger of the two with 60% of the population, so a win in this region is key to success. Leigh Thomas of Agence France Presse reports Flanders parties are demanding more political powers and want to manage their own employment policy. Language continues to play a large part in government, because linguistic balance is essential.
How will this effect the iShares MSCI Belgium (EWK)? The ETF was flat the day after elections, but is down 5% for the past week. It’s difficult to say how much the elections played a role in last week’s downturn, as global markets have been dipped a bit. The top holdings in the account are mostly financial companies, with Fortis at 23.5%.
For full disclosure, some of Tom Lydon’s clients own EWK.
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