Market Vectors Russia ETF (the Fund) seeks to replicate as closely as possible the price and yield performance of the DAXglobal Russia+ Index (DXRPUS). DXRPUS is a modified market capitalization-weighted index consisting of publicly traded companies that are domiciled in Russia. DXRPUS comprises a diversified group of many of the largest and most liquid companies in the investable universe. Companies eligible for inclusion in DXRPUS should be domiciled in Russia, traded in Russia and/or on global exchanges with market cap exceeding $150 million, and should have daily average traded volume of at least $1 million over past six months. The index provider is Deutsche Borse AG. The Fund is passively managed and may not hold each DXRPUS component in the same weighting as DXRPUS. The Fund’s investment advisor is Van Eck Associates Corporation.
I view Russia's economies in a pretty positive light moving forward. The country has undergone some tough economic times, and even with sanctions their economy has slowly turned it around and seems to be headed north. There are a few Russian ETFS that I have an eye on including RUBL, ERUS, and RSXJ, but RSX is the one I'm most interested in. RSX tracks Russia's commodities, industrials and resource-heavy companies and with the recent OPEC cuts in oil production Russia stands to gain. Russia's GDP growth was something like 1.6% projected before the OPEC cuts and before Trump was elected. No matter your opinion on US politics (and we all have them) Russia gains from having Trump and not Clinton in office. Trump would be more diplomatic lets say with Russia by far. He has spoke on possibly lifting Russian sanctions, which if done would only aid their GDP growth. The sanctions imposed has hit Russia the hardest in commodities and industrials which make up the most of RSX holdings. Any potential destabilization of the EU also sees Russia gaining economically, as they would be able to do business again with more countries. These are all potential benefits to Russia's economy. Even without these bonuses their GDP has been rising and the economy has slowly but surely gotten stronger. I view it favourably even without these potential pluses, but obviously with any of them it makes a stronger case for RSX I view Russia's economy as a whole as having a path to major turnaround and GDP growth without the sanctions or OPEC cut, and with these the light shines brighter. I view it as a great emerging market ETF.
With the pressure being applied to Trump's administration, I see Russia coming out pretty poorly in the long run. Might establish a long term short on them...
