Money flowed into South Korean stocks despite the Bank of Korea saying earlier in 2013 that there were two huge risks facing Asia’s fourth-largest economy: Federal Reserve tapering and the weak yen. Well, the yen has strengthened in recent days, but so has chatter about more tapering. The result is EWY is no refuge. Far from it. With a year-to-date loss of almost 11%, it is 2014’s second-worst non-leveraged ETF. [No Love for Emerging Markets ETFs]
Mexican stocks, at least as measured by the iShares MSCI Mexico Capped ETF (NYSEArca: EWW), also have been no place to hide. EWW was down 8% this year heading into Monday’s session. That only looks good compared to losses of 10% or more incurred by the comparable Brazil, Chile and Colombia ETFs.
It does not look like Taiwan, another advanced, low beta emerging market comparable to South Korea, is a legitimate place to hide. With Monday’s action, the iShares MSCI Taiwan ETF (NYSEArca: EWT) is now off almost 6% since the start of the year and the fund has slipped below its 200-day moving average.
iShares MSCI South Korea Capped ETF
