These are not the best of times of the iShares MSCI Qatar Capped ETF (NasdaqGM: QAT) and oil is not entirely to blame for the fund’s woes.
Most QAT’s near-term issues come courtesy of disgraced FIFA President Sepp Blatter and intensifying speculation that Qatar will lose its status as the host nation for World Cup 2022. To be fair, similar chatter is being applied to Russia, which is scheduled to host the international football tournament in 2018.
For now, Qatar remains the host of the 2022 World Cup, but the OPEC member’s grasp on those hosting duties is tenuous now that Blatter has been sent packing. The international football community was stunned in December 2010 when FIFA awarded Qatar the 2022 World Cup. Questions surrounding that decision were, and still are, logical. After all, the World Cup is played entirely outdoors and during summer months, making a nation located in a desert region a curious choice to host an event of this nature. Last week, we reported that QAT was sliding in large part to lost World Cup speculation. [Blatter’s Bungle’s Hurt Qatar ETF]
Now, there are ways to quantify the impact on QAT should Qatar lose its 2022 hosting privileges.
“According to U.K. bookmaker William Hill, the odds on Qatar losing the rights to the most-watched sporting event in the world were slashed to 5-4 from 5-1 on Tuesday, odds that the event still takes place in the desert state were set at 4-7,” reports Emerging Equity.