ETF Companion Guide for the 10 Best Economies in the World

Investing

Published: September 9, 2014 12:20 pm

Last Updated: September 9, 2014 12:22 pm

After seeing a recent report from the World Economic Forum on national competitiveness ratings, 24/7 Wall St. used several metrics to determine which nations had the best economies in the world. These metrics included many key readings, from gross domestic product (GDP) per capita to debt as a percentage of GDP. We also included other metrics, and even what the most negative aspect of each major economy was.

It turns out that most international investors also want to invest in strong economies. After all, why should investors chase weak economies where their efforts may be treated poorly? It also turns out that there is an exchange traded fund (ETF) strategy for almost any nation and almost any strategy. This led us to an idea of creating an ETF companion guide for the world’s best economies.

This ETF companion guide does not recap all the world’s strongest economies. That has already been done in the major work. This aims to show what are the top exchange traded funds of each included nation. Some countries only have one or two ETFs that actually track the national stock markets. We did not include many ETFs because their volume or size was simply too small or because they focused on a subset of exchange barometers.

24/7 Wall St. has included the average trading volume of each, a 52-week trading range and the net assets of each one. Below is the ETF companion guide for each of the top ten economies in the world.

1. Switzerland — GDP per capita: $47,303.25 (7th highest); debt as a % of GDP: 49.4% (6th highest). Key ETF is the iShares MSCI Switzerland Capped (NYSEMKT: EWL).

Average trade volume: 560,000
52-week trading range: $30.00 to $35.46
Net assets: $1.23 billion

2. Singapore — GDP per capita: $64,628.48 (3rd highest); debt as a % of GDP: 103.8% (11th highest). Key ETF is the iShares MSCI Singapore (NYSEMKT: EWS).

Average trade volume: 975,000
52-week trading range: $11.94 to $14.16
Net assets: $979 million

3. United States — GDP per capita: $54,609.47 (6th highest); debt as a % of GDP: 104.5% (10th highest). The United States has an endless number of ETF strategies, so we went with the most liquid and well-known for each the S&P 500 index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: SPY)

Average trade volume: 84,980,000
52-week trading range: $164.53 to $201.58
Net assets: $173 billion

SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (NYSEMKT: DIA)

Average trade volume: 4,104,000
52-week trading range: $149.96 to $171.56
Net assets: $11.5 billion

4. Finland — GDP per capita: $36,700.27 (21st highest); debt as a % of GDP: 57.0% (49th highest). Key ETF is the iShares MSCI Finland Capped ETF (NYSEMKT: EFNL).

Average trade volume: 11,000
52-week trading range: $27.80 to $38.06
Net assets: $39 million

5. Germany — GDP per capita: $40,756.66 (15th highest); debt as a % of GDP: 78.1% (26th highest). Key ETF is the iShares MSCI Germany (NYSEMKT: EWG).

Average trade volume: 4,434,000
52-week trading range: $26.18 to $32.38
Net assets: $4.9 billion

6. Japan — GDP per capita: $38,297.00 (20th highest); debt as a % of GDP: 243.0% (the highest). There are two key ETFs for Japan, with many other ETF choices as well.

iShares MSCI Japan (NYSEMKT: EWJ)

Average trade volume: 23,214,000
52-week trading range: $10.79 to $12.25
Net assets: $14.5 billion

WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity ETF (NYSEMKT: DXJ)

Average trade volume: 3,706,000
52-week trading range: $44.66 to $51.06
Net assets: $10.1 billion

7. Hong Kong — GDP per capita: $55,383.40 (5th highest); debt as a % of GDP: 33.8% (48th highest). Key ETF is the iShares MSCI Hong Kong (NYSEMKT: EWH).

Average trade volume: 2,970,000
52-week trading range: $18.60 to $22.77
Net assets: $3.281 billion

8. Netherlands — GDP per capita: $42,143.25 (13th highest); debt as a % of GDP: 74.9% (27th highest). Key ETF is the iShares MSCI Netherlands (NYSEMKT: EWN).

Average trade volume: 179,000
52-week trading range: $22.99 to $26.48
Net assets: $163 million

9. United Kingdom — GDP per capita: $38,309.85 (19th highest); debt as a % of GDP: 90.1% (18th highest). One of the top ETFs is the iShares MSCI United Kingdom (NYSEMKT: EWU).

Average trade volume: 2,164,000
52-week trading range: $18.92 to $22.11
Net assets: $4.185 billion

10. Sweden — GDP per capita: $42,146.88 (12th highest); debt as a % of GDP: 41.4% (68th highest). The key ETF is the iShares MSCI Sweden (NYSEMKT: EWD).

Average trade volume: 218,000
52-week trading range: $32.62 to $37.34
Net assets: $397 million

Again, there are other ETFs for some of the nations covered in this report. The goal here was to offer up the key one or two ETFs of each nation that cover the actual benchmark markets.

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