The 2014 ETF giveaway – 6 chances to win…

1. 2013: country and regional performance

2013 was an impressive year for equities.  The US$5 billion exchange traded fund (ETF) covering the MSCI All Country World Index was up 23% (in US$ terms).  Not a bad outcome for a passive holding in broad global markets.  The year saw a range of high performing markets:

Country	ETF Ticker	Expense ratio	ETF Size	2013 return
US (S&P 500)	SPY	0.09%	US$174 billion	24%
Germany	EWG	0.51%	US$6 billion	30%
Spain	EWP	0.52%	US$1 billion	31%
Ireland	EIRL	0.51%	US$123 million	45%
Japan	EWJ	0.51%	US$14 billion	24%

Europe performed solidly - the European regional ETF (ticker VGK) was up 20%.  Even recent disaster zones like Greece and Ireland did well. In fact developed markets generally had a great 2013 with a few exceptions (such as Canada and Australia).

There was a wide selection of laggards in 2013 – in very general terms the BRICs and wider emerging markets did not have a happy year.  The very popular US$46 billion emerging markets ETF (ticker VWO) was down 5% for 2013.  Here is a selection of 2013’s under-achievers: