Mexico: Much promise, significant challenges

Article Excerpt

Mexico’s relationship with the U.S. is extremely important for the country’s economy. More than 80% of Mexican exports, including manufactured goods and food, go to the U.S. In addition, 38 million Mexicans who live and work in the U.S. send large amounts of money back to their country of origin. On the trade tariff front, the new U.S. administration has so far treated Mexico relatively benignly. For now, this is working in the country’s favour as competitors such as China have effectively been shut out of the U.S. market (see the box on page 56 for more on this). Here is one ETF that provides exposure to the top Mexican publicly listed companies. ISHARES MSCI MEXICO ETF $59.09 (Nasdaq symbol EWW; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $1.9 billion) tracks the performance of the largest publicly listed Mexican companies. Financial Services account for 18% of its assets, while Consumer Defensive (15%), Basic Materials (13%), Industrials (12%), and Consumer Cyclicals (9%) are the other key segments. The ETF…