Oil prices are definitely in bear territory with prices for crude tumbling down to five year lows. And given recent comments from the dominant player in the space, Saudi Arabia, there seems to be little prospect for a bull run in the near term.
These trends have undoubtedly hit oil commodity ETFs in the U.S., while they have also crushed energy equity funds too. For example, the broad sector energy play, XLE, has lost nearly 20% in the last three months while more specialized plays targeting the exploration (XOP) and services (OIH) segments have fallen more than 33% in the time frame (also read 4 Ways to Short Oil with ETFs).
Yet while it has been pretty painful for energy equities here in the U.S., many international stocks have also been hit hard by the trend. This has been the case for broad markets in countries where oil is a huge part of their economy, as crashing oil has damaged their currencies, and slashed their growth outlooks.
In particular, three countries—which are also among the top ten exporters of the precious commodity—have been hit hard by this trend and have seen plunging share prices for their corresponding ETFs. These include Russia (RSX), Colombia (GXG), and Norway (NORW), and all three have lost at least 25% in the past three months alone (also read Crude Oil ETF Investing 101).
In the video below, we dive deeper into these country ETFs as well as the recent oil crash. If you want to learn more about these ETFs and their corresponding countries make sure to watch!
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Read the analyst report on OIH
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