iShares MSCI Belgium ETF

EWK

Market cap $160M

The EU is set to propose a 21st ​package of sanctions against Russia ‌for its war in Ukraine on Wednesday targeting the country's bank and crypto networks to ​increase the chances of a ​banking crisis and Moscow's appetite to ⁠negotiate a peace deal, an ​EU diplomatic source said.

While the international stock ETFs' chart patterns are bullish, some technical aspects are concerning.

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%.

Many ETFs that track foreign markets are up more than 20% this year.

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 Belgium ETF offers exposure to 38 Belgian stocks (mainly mid-caps). Belgium's risk-adjusted return track record is not very compelling, while it has lagged Swedish equities both over the long-term as well as short-term. Belgian GDP growth, which appeared to be trending higher from the lows of Q3-23, looks to have topped out, with the current year's forecasts coming across as quite bland.

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.