iShares MSCI New Zealand ETF

ENZL

Valor de mercado US$ 65,2 mi

RBNZ raised interest rates, warning that risks for higher inflation remain in play for the economy.

New Zealand consumer prices jumped in the second quarter on the back of surging fuel costs, deepening fears that interest rates will need to rise significantly in coming months.

New Zealand's inflation rate came in higher than expected in the first quarter, underscoring concerns about the emergence of price pressures across the economy just as the Middle East energy shock was beginning to develop.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has indicated it could raise interest rates if the surge in oil prices related to the Iran war drags on, threatening a sustained rise in inflation.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand left interest rates unchanged at its monetary policy meeting and said it expected inflation to retreat soon and for economic recovery to gather pace in the year ahead.

It has been 225 days since President Trump's Inauguration on January 20th, and the S&P 500 entered today up 8% since the last close before the Inauguration. Speaking of the G7, the US has been the worst market among these seven developed nations since Inauguration Day in January. Along with being the second-best performing country ETF since Inauguration Day, Vietnamhas easily been the best performer since April 8th with a gain of 77.5%.

The S&P 500 (SPY) rallied 5.7% this week but remains down 5.4% since the close on "Liberation Day" on 4/2. The average country ETF is down 4% since 4/2, so SPY has underperformed that since Trump's Rose Garden announcement. Asian countries like Vietnam (VNAM) and Thailand (THD) had some of the harshest reciprocal tariffs announced on Liberation Day, and since the pause, these two have bounced back 16.7% and 14.1%.

The iShares MSCI New Zealand ETF covers 25 of the largest stocks from the MSCI New Zealand All Cap Index. ENZL's performance over the last 4 years has been largely disappointing. New Zealand's macroeconomic backdrop looks troubling, with GDP contraction and struggling services and manufacturing sectors, though further interest rate cuts may offer some relief.

US equities have outperformed the rest of the world for a long time now. While the US is up 58% on a total return basis during the current bull market, the rest of the world is up 13.5 percentage points less at +44.5%. Looking at the international dividend ETF over a longer time frame, over the last five years, it's up 20.6% in price and more than double that on a total return basis.

This week opened with a deluge of 15 new ETFs on Monday, with only a single launch occurring after that. Perhaps the most notable of the debuts was the first buffer ETF from iShares.