Three Forgotten Country ETFs

In the world of ETFs that track a specific country, two trends became abundantly clear in 2010. First, the good news and positive price action was most often seen in emerging markets funds, Asia led the way here, followed by Latin America. Second, a large portion of the bad news found its way to Europe thanks to the Eurozone's sovereign debt woes. Beyond, China and India, Indonesia and Thailand were grabbers of significant headlines in 2010, as was Brazil. In Europe, Spain and Italy, among others, gave investors some heartburn. Those are the usual suspects. Along the way, a fair amount of country-specific ETFs have literally been flying under the radar. Let's take a quick look at three forgotten country-specific ETFs. 1) iShares MSCI Netherlands Investable Market Index Fund (NYSE: EWN): The Netherlands is almost physically at the epicenter of the European sovereign debt crisis. The country formerly known as Holland shares a border with Germany, easily the sturdiest major European economy, and with Belgium, which has now become another cause for concern on the continent. EWN can be knocked for its flat performance in 2010. On the other hand, that's a lot better than what comparable ETFs tracking France or Spain would have delivered and the Netherlands is rarely, if ever, mentioned in the same breath as Europe's problem children. Oddly enough, Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A) isn't one of EWN's holdings. 2) iShares MSCI New Zealand Investable Market Index Fund (NYSE: ENZL): In defense of ENZL, it only made its debut on Sept. 1 and New Zealand is considered a developed market, which probably tempered enthusiasm at the onset. Still, ENZL has created much in the way hype, though it is up 9% since its debut. At this point, consider ENZL an ETF with potential for a solid 2011. Just don't forget about it. 3) WisdomTree Japan SmallCap Dividend (NYSE: DFJ): It's impossible to say Japan is an ignored economy, but it's not unreasonable to say DFJ is an ignored ETF. Too bad because the ETF is up over 9% in the past month. The small-cap theme has been strong in 2010 and that could easily extend into 2011. In addition, Japanese small-caps are home to some compelling values, making DFJ worth remembering in the new year.