Worst Performing ETFs in 2019

Earlier in the month, we discussed the Top Performing ETFs of 2019. In this post, we'll discuss the worst performing ETFs of 2019.

After a down year in 2018, the stock market roared back in 2019 despite a number of political headwinds and many market participants calling for a recession to commence during the second half of the year. Fortunately, that never happened and the market shrugged off most of the negative headlines throughout the year since for the most part, economic numbers remained strong and while corporate earnings and revenue growth may be slowing, they are still in positive territory, which is undoubtedly a good sign.

With the S&P 500 (SP500) ending the year up 28.9%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 22.3%, and the NASDAQ (COMP) increased by 35.2% in 2019, one may wonder how anyone could have lost money in 2019, but unfortunately, some Exchange Traded Funds and therefore investor, did actually see negative returns during a year when the major indexes all crushed it.

Most investors who ended the year negative may want to forget about what happened. But those investors who focus on understanding why their investments went south are the ones who will learn from their mistakes and hopefully avoid making them in the future. The start of a new year is an excellent time to review your investing thesis and try to pinpoint why some investments didn’t turn out the way you imagined they would. So let’s take a look at the top five worst performing ETFs of 2019 in a number of different categories the average investor had to choose from in 2019 to see if you owned one or more of them.

The following table shows the performance of the worst five ETFs in 2019, as well as their performance over the last month, the previous three months, the last five and ten years.

The following table shows the performance of the worst five Non-Leveraged ETFs in 2019, as well as their performance over the last month, the previous three months, the last five and ten years.

The following table shows the performance of the worst five Equity Non-Leveraged ETFs in 2019, as well as their performance over the last month, the previous three months, the last five and ten years.

The following table shows the performance of the worst five US Equity Non-Leveraged ETFs in 2019, as well as their performance over the last month, the previous three months, the last five and ten years.

The following table shows the performance of the worst five Global Ex-US Equity Non-Leveraged ETFs in 2019, as well as their performance over the last month, the previous three months, the last five and ten years.

The following table shows the performance of the worst five Developed Markets Equity Non-Leveraged ETFs in 2019, as well as their performance over the last month, the previous three months, the last five and ten years.

The following table shows the performance of the worst five Emerging Markets Equity Non-Leveraged ETFs in 2019, as well as their performance over the last month, the previous three months, the last five and ten years.

The following table shows the performance of the worst five European Equity Non-Leveraged ETFs in 2019, as well as their performance over the last month, the previous three months, the last five and ten years.

The following table shows the performance of the worst five Asian-Pacific Equity Non-Leveraged ETFs in 2019, as well as their performance over the last month, the previous three months, the last five and ten years.

The following table shows the performance of the worst five Latin American Equity Non-Leveraged ETFs in 2019, as well as their performance over the last month, the previous three months, the last five and ten years.

The following table shows the performance of the worst five Middle-Eastern & African Equity Non-Leveraged ETFs in 2019, as well as their performance over the last month, the previous three months, the last five and ten years.

The following table shows the performance of the worst five Commodity Non-Leveraged ETFs in 2019, as well as their performance over the last month, the previous three months, the last five and ten years.

The following table shows the performance of the top five Currency Non-Leveraged ETFs in 2019, as well as their performance over the last month, the previous three months, the last five and ten years.

The following table shows the performance of the top five Fixed Income Non-Leveraged ETFs in 2019, as well as their performance over the last month, the previous three months, the last five and ten years.

(All figures quoted above are based on December 31st, 2019 closing price.)

Hopefully, you didn’t own any of the ETFs mentioned above; I was lucky enough to have avoided them. But if you did, focus on what went wrong and how you can improve your investment picking selection in the future.

Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. Best of luck in 2020!

Matt Thalman
INO.com Contributor - ETFs
Follow me on Twitter @mthalman5513

Disclosure: This contributor did not hold a position in any investment mentioned above at the time this blog post was published. This article is the opinion of the contributor themselves. The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. This contributor is not receiving compensation (other than from INO.com) for their opinion.