iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF

IEMG

Market cap $117B

Although many ETF investors believe the Fed's December rate meeting is the final hurdle to clear in 2025, there are increasing signs that a new market cycle is already underway. Astoria Portfolio Advisors founder, CEO and CIO John Davi and LionShares CEO Sofia Massie sit down with CNBC's Contessa Brewer on “ETF Edge” to discuss the best way to position a portfolio as we near the end of the year, the set-up for 2026, key trends to watch for, and why it's important to look beyond the Mag 7.

Stretched U.S. valuations and AI bubble fears have investors looking abroad and are driving interest in international equity and emerging market ETFs.

As bubble fears rise and volatility spikes, investors can turn to ETFs like RSP, GLD and IEMG to diversify and cut concentration risk.

It's been a good year for international equity ETFs. As a category, broad exposure funds tapping into both developed and emerging market equities have delivered outsized gains relative to U.S. markets this year, as well as much sought portfolio diversification.

The on-again-off-again trade war between the U.S. and China is enough to keep investors guessing. Some investors are avoiding China stocks.

Last week FTSE made its annual review of country classification within its global equity indices (see the announcement here). One of the most interesting changes was Vietnam's upgrade from frontier to emerging market.

Wall Street warns of an AI equity bubble as mega-cap tech surges, prompting investors to diversify into ETFs for balanced growth.

Investors can eye global equity funds as AI bubble fears, U.S. market risks and Fed easing fuel demand for international diversification.

The iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF invests in small-, mid-, and large-cap emerging market companies, primarily in China, India, Taiwan, and South Korea. After lackluster returns in the prior decade, IEMG is outperforming the S&P 500 so far this year, benefiting from a surge in dividend distributions. This has resulted in the ETF offering a current dividend yield of 2.80% - little changed from my prior coverage in July 2024.

Emerging markets investing has had an overall positive year in 2025. Entering the year, with many U.S. investors underweight foreign equities, some market watchers anticipated big opportunities abroad.