For Immediate Release
 
Chicago, IL – February 27, 2015 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include the iShares MSCI ACWI ETF (ACWI-Free Report), db X-trackers Harvest CSI 500 China-A Shares Small Cap Fund (ASHS-Free Report), WisdomTree Germany Hedged Equity Fund (DXGE-Free Report) and iShares MSCI Japan Minimum Volatility ETF (JPMV-Free Report).
 
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Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:

3 Country ETFs Scaling New Heights in 2015

Amid spiraling economic and political woes, the stock markets across the globe have been performing remarkably well this year thanks to massive monetary easing policies.

The most recent gains were credited to better-than-expected Chinese factory activity data, the Fed’s dovish comment, and Greece’s four-month bailout extension from international creditors. Further, a pause in falling oil prices added to the overall optimism. This is especially true given that iShares MSCI ACWI ETF (ACWI-Free Report) targeting the global stock market surged 4.50% from a year-to-date look and is just a bit below its all-time high of $61.32 (see: all the World ETFs here).

Most of the developed and developing markets are showing immense strength, suggesting that they are moving in the right direction, despite some concerns about the global economy. In fact, most of the nations such as Japan, Europe, and Russia broke free from last year’s malaise of slow growth and are finding their footing this year. India and China also continue to show strong resilience.

While there have been winners in many corners of the world, we have highlighted three country funds that actually hit new highs this week and are likely to outperform in the coming months as well. These products could be compelling choices for investors seeking to recycle their international exposure.

db X-trackers Harvest CSI 500 China-A Shares Small Cap Fund (ASHS-Free Report)

While the Chinese economy is still struggling with credit crunch, a property market slump, weak domestic demand, lower factory output, and 24-year low GDP growth, policy easing measures taken by People's Bank of China is building up the positive momentum in the economy thereby taking the Chinese stocks higher (read: Policy Easing Puts China ETFs in Focus).

Some of the major measures include cuts in reserves requirement ratio (RRR) and interest rates as well as flexibility in setting the interest rates on deposits. Additionally, China has been extremely proactive in shoring up its small companies and rural projects. Moreover, the launch of the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect program, which allows direct trading of Shanghai shares by investors outside mainland China for the first time, has boosted the appeal for China-A shares.

As a result, ASHS hit a new high of $39.49 per share on Tuesday, and has moved up by about 12.1% so far this year. It provides exposure to the small-cap segment of China A-share equity market by tracking the China Securities 500 Index. The product has amassed $25.2 million in AUM since its debut in May 2014 and sees lower trading volume of about 21,000 shares a day on average. It charges about 82 bps in fees per year from investors and has a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 or ‘Hold’ rating.

WisdomTree Germany Hedged Equity Fund (DXGE-Free Report)

After sluggish growth in the second and third quarters of 2014, Germany regained its momentum in the final quarter of 2014 and once again proved itself as a powerful engine and the firebrand of Euro zone. Overall, the German economy grew faster than expected in 2014 thanks to solid domestic demand, robust labor market, moderate inflation, low interest rates, higher budget surplus, higher consumer spending and rising income. Additionally, a slumping euro is actually benefitting German exporters, resulting in soaring stock prices.

The European Central Bank launched a bond-buying program, committing to pump trillions of dollars into the sagging Euro zone economy over the next one and half years. This will likely spur growth in the German economy in the coming months thereby raising the appeal for Germany hedged ETFs like DXGE (read: Bulls Riding Europe with These Top Ranked ETFs).

The fund offers exposure to German stocks while at the same time provides hedge against any fall in the euro. It tracks the WisdomTree Germany Hedged Equity Index holding 76 securities with a heavy concentration on the top 10 holdings at 53.5%. However, it is pretty well spread across a number of sectors with consumer discretionary, financials, industrials, materials and health care taking double-digit exposure each.

The fund has an AUM of around $27.7 million and average daily volume of about 28,100 shares. Expense ratio came in at 0.48%. The ETF hit a record high of $29.84 per share on Wednesday, representing a gain of about 14% in the year-to-date time frame. It has a Zacks ETF Rank of 1 or ‘Strong Buy’ rating.

iShares MSCI Japan Minimum Volatility ETF (JPMV-Free Report)

Good tidings for Japanese stocks came at the end of 2014 after Bank of Japan (BoJ) expanded its massive monetary policy and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delayed the second consumption tax hike planned for October 2015 to April 2017. The move not only pulled the world's third-largest economy out of recession in the final quarter of the year but also sparked off a rally in the Japanese stocks.

Additionally, trade deficit more than halved in January and a sliding Japanese yen came as a big boon for the exporters and the manufacturing industry. Despite some level of volatility, Japanese stocks are enjoying a strong rally with the Nikkei share index hitting a 15-year high and several ETFs riding to new heights. One of the attractive picks in this space is JPMV, which surged to an all-time high of $55.37, representing nearly 11% gain in the year-to-date timeframe (read: 3 Top Ranked Hedged Japan ETFs in Focus).

The fund offers exposure to 157 Japanese stocks having lower volatility characteristics relative to the broader Japanese equity markets by tracking the MSCI Japan Minimum Volatility Index. The fund is widely spread across number of securities as none of these holds more than 1.91% of assets. Sector-wise, consumer discretionary and industrials occupy the top two positions with at least 19% share each while financials, consumer staples and health care round off the top five.

The ETF is often overlooked by investors as depicted by AUM of $11 million and average daily volume of 3,200 shares. The fund charges 30 bps in annual fees and has a Zacks ETF Rank of 3.

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