Four Country ETFs Holding up Well Against The S&P 500

The last 90 days have been a grizzly period for scores of country-specific ETFs. Developed and emerging markets funds have both been taken to the woodshed. In the face of surging correlations, it almost hasn't mattered if you owned an ETF tracking a European country, an Asian emerging market or Latin America because they've all been whacked. Despite the country-specific fund blues, some of these ETFs have actually looked pretty good when measured against the S&P 500 over the past 90 days and that could be a sign that these are the ETFs to focus on if the market takes a turn for the better. Here's a quartet of ETFs that fit the bill and some of the members may be a surprise. iShares MSCI Philippines Investable Market Index Fund EPHE: Compared to a lot of the other funds tracking rapidly growing Southeast Asian economies, EPHE has held up relatively well lately. Admittedly, the ETF has slightly lagged the S&P 500 over the past three months, but not by much. Prior to September, EPHE had been crushing the S&P 500. The Philippines merits a long-term bullish view, but be advised EPHE's September decline has been a bit nasty. Support at $21 must hold or else you must get out. iShares MSCI New Zealand Investable Market Index Fund ENZL: We're not going to celebrate ENZL's 5% slide in the past three months, but it's far better than the 10% drop delivered by the S&P 500. Give ENZL this much credit: New Zealand is a commodities-driven developed market, so a 5% drop in this market isn't that bad. Plus, ENZL has sharply outperformed the iShares MSCI Australia Index Fund EWA over the past 90 days. iShares MSCI Thailand Investable Market Index Fund THD: THD has topped the S&P 500 recently, but only by a slim margin. As is the case with EPHE, THD's September woes are somewhat alarming, but it is still hard to diminish Thailand's growth prospects. As long as support at $54 holds, THD is worth staying long with. iShares MSCI Peru All Capped Index Fund EPU: This one is the real stunner. Peru has faced political headwinds. The country is intimately levered to the commodities theme as a major metals producer. Add to that, Brazil has weighed on almost every Latin America ETF and it's a wonder that EPU isn't down severely over the last three months. Actually, EPU is flat in that time. Two things about that: That's obviously far better than a 10% drop for the S&P 500 and it may be a sign that EPU will rally sharply if the broader market cooperates.