It is no secret that the European equity markets have rallied nicely in the past month, with IEV (iShares Europe 350) rallying 16.06% year to date and up 3.60% just in the trailing one month period.
IEV is top weighted towards familiar companies such as Nestle SA (3.12%), HSBC Holdings (2.73%), Novartis AG (2.48%), BP (2.07%), and Roche Holding AG (2.06%).
Meanwhile, the Euro currency as measured by FXE (CurrencyShares Euro), is now up 0.70% YTD and challenging its highest levels since September.
IEV on the other hand is also threatening to eclipse September highs. Clearly, appetites towards the European markets have become more bullish in the past few months, and an often overlooked segment of European ETP exposure is that of sovereign bonds.
Funds such as BUNL (PowerShares DB German Bund Futures ETN) and GGOV (ProShares German Sovereign/SubSovereign), BUND (PIMCO Germany Bond Index), and ITLY (PowerShares DB Italian Treasury Bond Futures ETN) all come to mind as clear examples of how the ETF industry continues to innovate and explore various investment opportunities out there.