WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity Fund

HEDJ

Market cap $1.83B

The ECB hiked its key deposit rate by 25 basis points in June as energy prices spiked. Investors had written off a hike at next week's meeting, but higher oil prices have brought monetary policy back into question.

Eurozone industrial output in May snapped a three-month streak of resilient activity in the face of higher energy costs following the conflict between the U.S. and Iran.

Our global markets watchlist tracks nine prominent indexes from economies around the world.

Navigating the macroeconomic landscape in the first half of 2026 has been a study in contrasts. Markets have marched toward all-time highs even as historic valuation metrics flash warning signs behind the scenes.

Lately, the land of the rising sun has been the land of the falling yen. While single-country equity exposure to Japan has provided investors with relative outperformance year-to-date (YTD), they appear to be better off shedding the currency drag.

The European Union plans to introduce ‌a raft of policies and funding schemes to shift more of its economy to run on electricity, instead of oil and gas, a draft European Commission proposal seen by Reuters showed.

Higher interest rates in some emerging Asian banking sectors will likely lead to slower credit growth by the end of 2027. Serbia's interest rate cap order will expire in September, and expectations of this are likely to boost credit growth before expiration.

Threats of a resumed conflict and potential disruption in the Strait of Hormuz triggered a surge in global crude oil prices, with the benchmark Brent Crude Futures index surging above $79 a barrel, up from around $72 at the start of this week.

The DAX is singled out as the market most likely to see squeeze-driven gains in the weeks ahead Citi has warned that European stock markets face a growing risk of short squeezes, as investors caught betting against rising prices are forced to buy back their positions. The US bank said global equity positioning remained supportive of further gains, but that regional differences were becoming more pronounced.

The European Central Bank has given eurozone banks four months to develop plans aimed at countering artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled cyber threats that could undermine confidence in the financial system and disrupt payment networks. The directive, issued on Tuesday, reflects growing concern among European regulators over the increasing cyber capabilities of advanced AI models.