Fund Blawg

The bear market that began in October 2007, is slowly taking out pockets of strength in the stock market. Until recently some international funds, primarily in Latin America, have been holding up. Recently though even these funds have begun to sell-off. The iShares Latin America ETF (ILF) is down around 20% from it's April 2008 highs.

Funds that invest in emerging markets in general have not held up as well as the Latin America region. The iShares Emerging Market ETF (EEM) fund topped out in October 2007, with the rest of the market and has not recovered yet.

The iShares Emerging Market ETF has Brazil stocks as it's largest country holding, but China and Korea follow as the largest representatives in the portfolio. The charts below show that China and South Korea have sold off in sympathy with the US markets.