The second quarter of 2012 has so far been a complete reversal of the first quarter. As of earlier this morning, just one stock-related ETF in our matrix below was up for the quarter -- Utilities (XLU). Major US index ETFs are all down 4-5% for the quarter, while sectors like Energy (XLE) and Financials (XLF) are down 7%+.
International markets have done much worse than the US. Brazil (EWZ), France (EWQ), Germany (EWG), India (INP), Italy (EWI), Spain (EWP) and Russia (RSX) are all down double digit percentages since the start of April, and they're down 5%+ over the last week alone. The only asset class that is solidly in the green for the quarter is fixed income, which many investors shunned like the plague as recently as March. Oh how quickly things change.
