European ETFs Gain Ground On Summit Hopes

In an era where time is money, the European Union (EU) and its leaders are holding a summit meeting in Washington this week to help repair their economies and exchange traded funds (ETFs). The 27 member countries met in Brussels to discuss issues they would tackle on Nov. 15.

At this meeting, European leaders will call for an overhaul of the global financial system within 100 days, hoping to influence President-Elect Barack Obama to jump on board and act quickly.  Other issues they hope to address include strenghtining the International Monetary Fund, reshaping financial governance and imposing greater regulation on the sector, reports Stephen Castle for the New York Times.

Castle also reports that the 27 nations agreed that the monetary fund should become the “pivot of a renewed international system” and should coordinate more closely with the Financial Stability Forum, which aims to promote international financial stability through information exchange and cooperation in supervision and surveillance.

The principles put forward by the Europeans on Friday include regulation, “or at least oversight,” of all financial institutions, accountability and transparency, new approaches to risk assessment and a central role for the monetary fund.

The world is excited about the new leadership in the United States, but the general thinking is that we’ll all have to be patient. Barack Obama himself has stated that it could take awhile to get the world’s economies back on track. He’s under immense pressure to produce results, but patience is going to be the order of the day.

On Friday, reaction to the meeting was positive, enabling the iShares S&P Europe 350 Index Fund (IEV) to gain 5.73% and the Vanguard European ETF (VGK) to gain 5.84 %. However, the funds are down 44.1% and 44.5% year-to-date, respectively.

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