Investing

Euro and PIIGS ETFs Crushed on Brexit Outcome, Down 10 Percent Or More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: June 24, 2016 1:21 pm

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 6:24 am

With the Brexit Vote only adding that much more uncertainty, the reality is setting in that this could spell long-term trouble for the European Union. Britain never did share its currency, but they did share trade and many common laws. Trench warfare of WWI is not the likely outcome. Unfortunately, more geopolitical risk has just been added to the fire.

24/7 Wall St. wanted to look at the exchange-traded funds and see what happening, and it was more than ugly. in fact, many traditional ETFs covering Europe were down 10% or more. The PIIGS ETFs were even worse, as they may be viewed quite poorly now.

These ETFs are not even including the leveraged ETFs which have even more zany moves.

SPDR EURO STOXX 50 ETF (NYSEMKT: FEZ) was last seen down 11.5% at $29.92 versus a 52-week range of $29.64 to $39.75. The 12 million shares right before 1:00 pm Eastern time was already about 4 times normal volume.

Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF (NYSEMKT: VGK) was last seen down 10.4% at $44.95, versus a 52-week range of $3.47 to $56.53. Oh, and the 20 million shares even before 1:00 pm Eastern time was already approaching five-times normal volume.

Global X MSCI Greece ETF (NYSEMKT: GREK) was last seen down 17% at $6.88 after noon on Friday. Its 52-week range is $5.56 to $12.25. Hey, it’s Greece! Did you really expect more?

iShares MSCI Ireland Capped (NYSEMKT: EIRL) probably feels a bit ripped off considering it suffered through the austerity measures to be good with the European Union. Now shares of the ETF were seen down 10.5% at $36.48 on Friday. Its 52-week range is $35.08 to $42.10.

The iShares MSCI United Kingdom (NYSEMKT: EWU) was down 11.3% at $14.67 versus a 52-week range of $13.94 to $19.02. The 17 million shares which traded before 1:00 pm Eastern time was nearing four-times normal volume.

iShares MSCI Italy Capped (NYSEMKT: EWI) was last seen down almost 15% (-$1.80) at $10.37 with a 52-week range of $10.34 to $$15.88. How healthy are Italian banks with even less cover from more stable economies.

iShares MSCI Spain Capped (NYSEMKT: EWP) was last seen down 15% at $23.41, versus a 52-week range of $23.38 (Friday) to $$35.58. Spain has a vote coming up, and many in Spain also want out.

First Trust United Kingdom AlphaDEX ETF (NASDAQ: FKU) was last seen down over $7.00 (-18.4%) at $$32.93 versus a 52-week range of $32.93 to $44.74.

Other key news coverage on Brexit impact:

• Full economic snapshot of Britain
• Major banks under fire
• Gold miners to the moon!
• 8 All American companies that could care less!
• Could UK unemployment hit 10% now?
• Brexit good for California’s relative economic size to world.