Asia Is Giving These ETFs A Major Boost

What do four of the five hottest exchange traded funds of 2017 have in common? They all have exposure to Asian assets. Among every ETF with at least a $2 billion market cap, the best performer is iShares MSCI China Index Fund MCHI, which is up 34 percent this year.

For many years, the U.S. market was a global outperformer but is now a little bit "long on the tooth," Max Wolff, chief economist at Disruptive Technology Advisers explained during a recent CNBC "Trading Nation" segment. As such, Asian assets are poised to assume some "growth leadership" and there are signs this has already started.

Some of the "highest flying" American companies who exceeded earnings expectations are those with a higher mix of exposure to Asian markets, Wolff added. In fact, a trend of "outperformance from Asia and underperformance from the U.S." may be here to stay for some time, especially given some of the domestic macro issues plaguing U.S. markets.

"As U.S. trade and diplomatic leadership has stalled and is running in reverse, we have and we will see an acceleration in the rotation of faith and dollars to regions seen as more promising," Wolff told CNBC. "That means Asia in the significant part."

Here are the remaining top performing ETFs this year:

• SPDR S&P Biotech (ETF) XBI + 27 percent.
• iShares MSCI Cntry Asa Jpn Idx Fnd ETF AAXJ: +26 percent this year.
• iShares MSCI South Korea Index Fund(ETF) EW: + 24 percent this year.
• Ishares MSCI India ETF INDA + 24 percent.

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