Our Best and Worst Performing Equity Funds This Year

As of June 30, 2014, WisdomTree had 49 equity exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and 42 of those were incepted prior to December 31, 2013. We thought it worthwhile to showcase, out of these 42 equity ETFs, the top five and bottom five performers of 2014, measured through June 30, 2014, to see what distinct themes about global equity performance would emerge.   Average Annual Performance   Top 5 & Bottom 5 of 2014: Equity ETFs Top 5 Performers   • India as the Top Performer: WisdomTree’s India Earnings Fund (EPI) was far and away the top performer of the group. Initially, this was due to excitement over the prospects for a change in government leadership, leading up to the announcement on May 16, 2014, of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)¹ and Prime Minister Modi’s electoral victory. Performance has been positive since then as it is perceived that India’s very necessary reform effort is moving in a positive direction. • Utilities for Yield-Hungry Investors: Interest rates in developed markets have been trending downward², but investors have been hungry for income-producing options. Utilities are one such place they have looked. The WisdomTree Global ex-U.S. Utilities Fund (DBU) tracks, after costs, fees and expenses, the performance of an Index³ that focuses on the Utilities sector outside of the U.S. Performance of greater than 20% over the period was seen in such markets as Poland, Portugal, Spain, Finland and Indonesia.⁴ It’s important to note that the S&P 500 Utilities Index was up 18.7% for the period⁵, so the “ex-US” missed a very strong U.S. Utilities market over the period. • The Middle East Upgrades: In June 2014 MSCI officially upgraded the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to emerging market status.⁶ Since then, however, the situation in the Middle East region has become volatile, so much of the positive performance from the WisdomTree Middle East Dividend Fund (GULF) occurred closer to the beginning of 2014 than to the midpoint. • Real Estate: While the WisdomTree Global ex-U.S. Real Estate Fund (DRW) has broken into double digits with its performance, it’s important to note that U.S. real estate Indexes have outperformed it over this period⁷. It is another sector that, like Utilities, has the potential for helping to solve a need for income. The ultralow interest rates around the world and further support from the European and Japanese central banks are supporting real estate and income investment strategies around the world. • U.S. Mid-Caps: The WisdomTree MidCap Dividend Fund (DON) rounds out the top five performing ETFs over this period.   Bottom 5 Performers   • Valuation Concerns in U.S. Small Caps: Both EES and DGRS represent U.S. small-cap options, and this market was very strong in 2013. Both of these funds track the performance of Indexes⁸ that are exposed to less-speculative and less-leveraged parts of the U.S. small-cap market, making them particularly suited for a potential rising-rate environment. • Japan Has Been Volatile: After the breakout performance year of 2013, equities within Japan have been challenged. Abenomics is now less about making big announcements and more about following through on the proposed incremental reforms. The road to success will not be traveled in the short term, but it’s worth noting that since May 21 DXJ is up more than 8.5%.⁹ • WisdomTree’s Worst-Performing Equity Fund Thus Far in 2014: At times, investment strategies are created to focus on the worst performers of a particular period, and for those searching for that option at WisdomTree, the answer is DXKW. Korean firms have been hit hard by the depreciating yen, in that many Korean firms produce products that are very similar to their Japanese counterparts, and the Japanese products have become less expensive within their export markets. With the possibility of intervention by the Bank of Korea to try to weaken the won, Korea’s currency, we wrote about the potential opportunity that we see in this market in a prior blog post.   Looking Forward to the Second Half As we write this piece on July 18, 2014, we’ve already seen transpiring major geopolitical events that will have the potential to impact equity markets around the globe in the second half of 2014. For momentum-oriented investors who look to continue to ride the performance wave, these five top-performing funds are worth watching, while the contrarian and value-seeking investors should find value in these bottom-performing segments.         ¹Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP): A political party in India. ²Source: Bloomberg. 10-year government bond interest rates in the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and Australia were all lower on 7/15/14 than on 12/31/13. ³Refers to the WisdomTree Global ex- U.S. Utilities Index. ⁴Source: Bloomberg, with performance measured for constituents of the WisdomTree Global ex-US Utilities Index within these markets for the period 12/31/13 to 6/30/14. ⁵Source: Bloomberg, with performance measured from 12/31/13 to 6/30/14. ⁶Source: “MSCI Market Classification & Implementation Q&A,” MSCI, December 2013. ⁷Source: Bloomberg. MSCI US REIT Index & Dow Jones US Real Estate Index performed 17.7% and 16.4%, respectively, for the 12/31/13 to 6/30/14 period. ⁸EES tracks the WisdomTree SmallCap Earnings Index, and DGRS tracks the WisdomTree U.S. SmallCap Dividend Growth Index. ⁹Refers to performance of DXJ at NAV from 5/21/14 to 6/30/14.