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ETF News

Euro Exposure? Eurozone Bond ETFs In Advance of ECB’s QE

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MarketsMuse.com update courtesy of extract from Jan 6 ETF.com article by Dennis Hudacheck, with a look at Eurobond ETFs $HEDJ,$DBEU, $HEZU, $EZU, $DBEZ, $VGK, $FEZ, $DFE

All eyes are on the European Central Bank’s Jan. 22, 2015 meeting, as it’s no secret that ECB President Mario Draghi has been hinting at a large-scale quantitative easing program for some time.

There’s no guarantee the ECB will actually implement any such program in January, but the consensus seems to be that there will be some type of big announcement on that front sometime in the first quarter of 2015.

At the same time, the U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to begin raising rates in mid-2015. This opposing force between the world’s two largest central banks has strategists calling for a currency-hedged strategy to capitalize on a rising-equity/falling-euro scenario in Europe.

An Equity ETF Designed For A Weakening Euro For currency-hedged options, the $5.6 billion WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity Fund (HEDJ | B-47) is by far the leading ETF in the space.

Despite its “Europe” name, HEDJ focuses exclusively on eurozone securities. That means that for better or worse, it excludes the U.K., Switzerland and Sweden, which account for roughly 50 percent of Europe’s equity market capitalization, combined.

More importantly, it carries a significant exporter bias, attempting to capitalize on a weakening-euro scenario. The dividend-weighted ETF does this by screening out any company that gets more than 50 percent of its revenues from within Europe.

This makes HEDJ geared toward investors with a strong bearish view on the euro. Naturally, the fund favors consumer sectors over financials compared with vanilla, cap-weighted European indexes (MSCI Europe IMI Index).

This now-blockbuster fund tracks its index well and trades more than $80 million a day at 3 basis point spreads, keeping overall trading costs very low.

‘Neutral’ Currency-Hedged Products Contrary to popular thinking, investors interested in currency-hedged Europe ETFs don’t necessarily have to be bearish on the euro. They might have a neutral view, and simply prefer a purer equity exposure by taking any currency fluctuations out of the equation.The Deutsche X-trackers MSCI Europe Hedged Equity ETF (DBEU | B-66) is also a leading ETF in the space, and takes a broader approach, including all of developed Europe, beyond the eurozone.

It tracks a cap-weighted index and neutralizes exposure to the euro, the British pound, the Swiss franc and a few other European currencies against the dollar. DBEU has more than $710 million in assets and trades with robust liquidity that’s sufficient for small and large investors alike.

For a neutral currency take on the eurozone, rising in popularity is the iShares Currency Hedged MSCI EMU ETF (HEZU), which literally holds the $7.5 billion iShares MSCI EMU ETF (EZU | A-63) with a forward contract overlay to neutralize euro exposure.

For the entire analysis from ETF.com, please click here

ETF News

European ETFs Look Promising for 2015

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MarketMuse update courtesy of extract from ETF Trends’ Tom Lydon.

European equities and related exchange traded funds could outperform in 2015, capitalizing on lower energy prices, an improved export outlook and potentially more European Central Bank easing.

For instance, the iShares MSCI EMU ETF (NYSEArca: EZU) and the SPDR EURO STOXX 50 (NYSEArca: FEZ) both focus on Eurozone countries.

Alternatively, investors seeking to capture Eurzone market exposure can also consider a hedged-equity ETF that will help diminish the negative effects of a depreciating euro currency. For example, the Deutsche X-Trackers MSCI Europe Hedged Equity ETF (NYSEArca: DBEU), iShares Currency Hedged MSCI EMU ETF (NYSEArca: HEZU)and WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity Fund (NYSEArca: HEDJ) hedge against the euro currency and would outperform a non-hedged Europe equity ETF if the euro currency continues to depreciate.

DBEU, though, takes a slightly broader approach to the European markets, including about a 40% combined tilt toward the United Kingdom and Switzerland. HEZU and HEDJ only cover Eurozone member states.

Wall Street analysts believe that European equities could be one of the best places to invest in 2015, reports Sara Sjolin for MarketWatch.

“Europe was a market ‘darling’ this time last year, then became a pariah,” economists at Morgan Stanley said in a research note. “[Now] we like European equities, (especially cyclicals) and European ABS.”

Mislav Matejka, chief European equity strategist at J.P. Morgan, even predicts that Eurozone stocks could outperform U.S. equities next year.

Specifically, the investment banks are pointing to three factors that will support the region: the ECB, a cheap euro currency and low oil prices.

ECB President Mario Draghi has hinted that the central bank could introduce further stimulus in early 2015 and even enact a bond purchasing program.

“The mantra is ‘Don’t fight the ECB’ — the central bank is set to inject €1,000 billion and to add sovereign bonds to its buying program,” analysts at Société Générale said in a research note.

While the euro currency has depreciated 10% against the U.S. dollar so far, analysts believe there is more room to fall after the ECB enacts further easing. Consequently, the weak euro will help bolster the Eurozone’s large exporting industry, making goods cheaper for foreign buyers. Morgan Stanley predicts the cheap currency could add at least 2% to earnings per share for European companies next year.

Lastly, lower energy prices will have an immediate effect on consumers, allowing Europeans to spread around their cash for discretionary purchases and spur growth. Additionally, the cheap oil will lower input costs for companies’ profit margins and lift earnings.

Furthermore, analysts believe that if the ECB begins a quantitative easing plan, the financial sector will be a key beneficiary. Most major Eurozone banks are already in good shape and should capitalize on improved credit supply and loan demand. For targeted Europe financial exposure, investors can take a look at the iShares MSCI Europe Financials ETF (NYSEArca: EUFN). However, the ETF does not hedge against currency risks.