Hey, whatever happened to the PIIGS? Are we still worried about them? The goings-on in Egypt have all but eclipsed news about the five economies that dominated the headlines for the latter half of 2010.
Well, the bad news is that the PIIGS are not out of the woods just yet. That debt isn’t going to go away overnight. But on the plus side, the single-country ETFs that track some of the PIIGS have seen better days in the last month. To wit:
- iShares MSCI Ireland (NYSEArca: EIRL): up 6.9% in the last month
- iShares MSCI Italy (NYSEArca: EWI): up 15.9% in the last month
- iShares MSCI Spain (NYSEArca: EWP): up 20.9% in the last month
From the looks of it, Ireland is rebounding the most slowly and it may stay that way for the time being. Carmel Crimmons for Reuters reports that although Irish consumer sentiment is up, economists caution that a little over half of the increase was due to the traditional January sales boost and did not mean a turnaround in confidence and spending. [3 Safer Haven Stocks for Ongoing Euro Mess.]
If you’d rather avoid the PIIGS altogether, there’s yet another new acronym for you to chew on.
Matthew Mallon for Minyanville reports that Jim O’Neill, chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, is the name behind the new acronym: MIST, representing Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Turkey. To him, they represent the next hot group of emerging markets.
Out with the PIIGS and in with the MIST? If the troubles continue, then it may be so.
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.