7 Most-Searched ETF Areas In The Past 7 Days

The year so far has been eventful with the signing of the U.S.-China phase-one trade deal, the passing of the USMCA deal, upbeat earnings releases, mixed U.S. economic data points, record high stock market and the sudden return of global growth worries.

Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few ETF areas that were most-searched on xtf.com in the past seven days.

India

India investing has been an area to watch lately amid slowing economic growth. The country has been one of the most-followed ones in the past one-month frame.

Its growth for Q3 2019 was 4.5%, below market expectations of 4.7%. Private consumption, private investment and exports have slowed considerably. However, some market watchers believe that the economy has hit a bottom and is now up for a rebound. VanEck Vectors India Small-Cap Index ETF SCIF, Market Vectors-Rupee/USD ETN (ASX:INR) and iShares MSCI India Small-Cap ETF (LON:SMIN) gained in the range of 3.2% to 4.5% in the past week.

However, on Jan 20, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut India's economic growth estimates for the current fiscal to 4.8% and labelled the country's much lower-than-expected GDP numbers as one of the drags for its global growth forecast for two years. “India's growth premium over EMs is likely to be the lowest since 2012-13,” per Business Standard. With this, we might see renewed pressure in the India market.

Fixed Income

This is another hot segment given the subdued interest rate environment globally. QE measures by the ECB and BoJ, easy money policies by the Fed and several other developed and emerging economies kept the rise in interest rates at check and favored fixed-income investing.

Among the winning fixed-income ETFs this year, there wereDirexion Daily 20+ Year Treasury Bull 3X Shares TMF (up 5.5%), PIMCO 25+ Year Zero Coupon U.S. Treasury Index Exchange-Traded Fund ZROZ (up 2.9%) and VanEck Vectors Emerging Markets High Yield Bond ETF HYEM (up 2.4%).

Large Cap

Global large-cap stocks were also most watched. The most gainful funds in the space mainly belonged to the tech space. This also helped the technology sector make a place for itself in the top trending areas.

Most gainful funds in this area were MicroSectors FANG+ ETN FNGS (up 8.6% this year), Invesco NASDAQ Internet ETF PNQI (up 7.9%), TigerShares UP Fintech China-U.S. Internet Titans ETF TTTN (up 7.5%) and First Trust Dow Jones International Internet ETF FDNI (up 6.9%).

Norway

Norway is among the top 10 nations in terms of oil exports. Per the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), Norway is the biggest oil driller in Europe. With Brent crude prices gaining about 9.7% in the past six months and poised for further upside in 2020 due to expansion of OPEC output cut, the outlook for Norway ETFs appears bright. iShares MSCI Norway ETF ENOR andGlobal X MSCI Norway ETF NORW gained about 7% each in the past three months and 0.4% in the past seven days (read: Country ETFs to Top/Flop on US Air Raid at Baghdad).

BlackRock

Who doesn’t know about the dominance of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in the ETF industry? BlackRock, Vanguard Group and State Street Corp. (NYSE:STT) dominate 81% of all ETF assets. So, no wonder, people have been on the lookout for BlackRock ETFs (read: 10 ETFs That Have Been Investors' Favorites).

Outperforming BlackRock ETFs this year are iShares MSCI Turkey ETF (MC:TUR) (up 7.8%), iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (MI:IGV) (up 7.4%),and iShares Cybersecurity and Tech ETF IHAK (up 7%) (read: Turkey ETF Rallying Hard: How Long Will the Trend Last?)

Palladium

After a surge in 2019, palladium price momentum is showing no sign of a slowdown in 2020. The rally has mainly been backed by growing global demand and stagnating supply. “There are few well-established palladium mines” while demand has been on the rise on increased consumption of gasoline engines. Stringent emission control norms have been fueling demand for Palladium-using petrol-fueled cars as governments around the world look to fight climate change. Aberdeen Standard Physical Palladium Shares ETF PALL jumped 26.8% this year (read: Top ETF Areas of Last Week).

Kensho Index

This index provider caught the attention of the S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) in 2018 when the latter acquired Kensho Technologies to boost its artificial intelligence. With AI and algorithm taking an upper hand lately, investors’ inclination for products following Kensho indexes are on the rise.

Some of the top-performing ETFs tracking Kensho Indexes are SPDR S&P Kensho Future Security ETF FITE (up 7.6% this year), SPDR S&P Kensho Final Frontiers ETF ROKT (up 7.2%) and SPDR S&P Kensho Clean Power ETF CNRG (up 5.9%).

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