European ETFs Performing Sluggishly

The European debt crisis and sluggish economic growth have scared the investors away from the equities that have exposure to the region. Just today, the United Kingdom officially entered a double-dip recession, as its GDP fell 0.2% from the Q4 of 2011. Hence, it is interesting to look at a few "country-specific" ETFs to find out what the performance has been like in the past year and a half. Since October, iShares MSCI France Index ETF EWQ is down over 17%. France has been in the eye of the Eurozone crisis and S&P downgraded the country's AAA credit rating in January. Global X FTSE Norway 30 ETF NORW and iShares MSCI Germany Index Fund ETF EWG are down approximately 2%. Both countries have fairly strong economies, but they are very reliant on the exports, which has hurt their performance. Surprisingly, the UK that entered a double-dip recession today has outperformed these three other nations. iShares MSCI United Kingdom Index ETF EWU is up slightly over 2% since October 2010.