Russian ETFs fall again and trading halts on ERUS

Evgeny Stavnikov/iStock via Getty Images

Russian exchange traded funds fell again in premarket trading on Friday, amid ongoing fighting in Ukraine. Meanwhile, the iShares MSCI Russia ETF (NYSEARCA:ERUS) suspended trading as news broke that the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, located in Enerhodar, Ukraine, was attacked by Russian bombing.

The assault on the nuclear power plant had ignited a fire that generated concerns of a nuclear disaster. According to Reuters, the fire has since been put out, and radiation levels remain unchanged, an official at Energoatom stated.

Following the continued fighting and volatility of the region, ERUS has suspended trading. BlackRock said it supports the NYSE’s decision to halt trading on the ETF, stating that it is devoted to defending the best interests of ERUS shareholders.

Due to the fact ERUS has a concentrated exposure to Russian equities, the closure of the Russian stock market, and MSCI’s decision to remove Russian securities from its Emerging Markets Indexes, BlackRock declared that it is on board with the decision.

Looking at an index still undergoing trading, the VanEck Vectors Russia ETF (BATS:RSX) was -2.5% before the opening bell. The less liquid VanEck Vectors Russia Small-Cap ETF (BATS:RSXJ) and the Franklin FTSE Russia ETF (NYSEARCA:FLRU) have not posted premarket moves.

Moreover, the soon to be de-listed Direxion Daily Russia Bull 2X Shares (NYSEARCA:RUSL) also trades slightly lower on Friday, -0.5%.

Russia has now kept the Moscow Exchange closed for a fifth straight day on Friday, trying to shield stocks from a potentially brutal selloff.

Comments

[Moomoo22u2]

Good riddance to the entire Russian sovereign nation. The economic carnage to this economy caused by one man will splinter that toxic backwater of a society to the stone ages. They have no idea what’s about to hit them for years to come.

[treespace]

@Moomoo22u2 Question: what's the difference between a dollar and a ruble? Answer: a dollar.

[Keops]

Watching ukrainian videos from the fronts. Absolutely amazing amounts of
bad words, ukrainians use when cursing. Blayt, suki, pizdets, tjiboraska (childrens animated figure) and so on. Some, maybe most of it, I do not understand.

Ridicules, shames the russian invaders. Who would have thought that, ukrainians got unlimited amount of cursing. No bread and salt for the
aggressor.

The PR part of Ukraine gov. should post a complete lexicon, how to curse
in Ukrainian / russian

[Ashdove]

US Banksters will scoop all Russian stocks for 0.001 ruble per share, just after halting their trading. And they will sell them back to the public for x 1000 when trading resumes in a few months.
Then, they will repeat this process with Chinese stocks, when the Chinese will takeover Taiwan.

[TigerCub911]

Glad I sold most of these except for some of the ETFs. Hopefully the situation is resolved otherwise I would lose about $1,000+. I lost a lot more on some of tech stocks in the past few months, like 50 times more...

[zagrebzagreb]

Seeking Alpha needs to learn how to use it's words. It's not mere 'fighting' going on, it's a war.

[Keops]

@zagrebzagreb

Agree. So should "neutral" media, like al jazeera do.

[dronus]

What happens to the shorts? I have a short position and I can't close it as the trading is halted.

[6228371]

@dronus

"What happens to the shorts? I have a short position and I can't close it as the trading is halted."

It looks like ERUS is mostly in money market, but there is a large position in VTB bank? I guess this is stock?

www.ishares.com/...

[Justin Cool]

@dronus Ypou probably lose all of your money. If you are a Russian citizen in the US they might put you in a concentration camp in Claifornia or something

[Justin Cool]

@6228371 None of these will have a rally. They are all being put at zero by Nasdaq and S and P.

[atpalpha]

www.carmelowalsh.com/...

[ocvegasproperty]

I own some ERUS and figured I'd just hold it through this war and hope that it was quick and relatively peaceful. No such luck and it seems worse than anticipated. Now have no choice but to wait and see and hopefully it resolves itself. Thankfully, I'm diversified enough to where this is a very small component of my portfolio. Lessons learned...

[Justin Cool]

@ocvegasproperty They are all getting delisted and going to zero it seems Also Russian citizens living in the US may be put into concentration camps.

[RayZfox]

@Justin Cool Just like the American citizens of Japanese heritage during WW2? I think we reflated back on that and I was a good part of American history with no regrets.

[polecat]

Larry Fink, the biggest oligarch ,must feel sad that his commie friends are having a hard time. Does Fink have feelings?

[Moomoo22u2]

Putin is officially the next Hitler of modern history. He will end up bankrupting is country and starving it’s people in time.

[WW Burgess]

@Moomoo22u2 'the next Hitler' - kind of like every other 'next Hitler' who ever stands opposed to US hegemony.

[Justin Cool]

@Moomoo22u2 if everyone is hitler nobody is hitler. They called Trump worse than hitler too. Hitler is the only "bad guy" you know because you are ignorant of history.

[eekwilltime]

RSX is the only remaining actively trading Russian stock. It’s serves as a proxy for what the shares of OGZPY, NILSY, LUKOY, SBRCY, etc., might be worth if/when trading resumes.

[JackWolf]

@eekwilltime Crushed, I see. Good.

[6228371]

@JackWolf

The RSX calls are so expensive. Some might want to buy RSX shares and write covered calls against it.

www.vaneck.com/...

[JackWolf]

@6228371 Not touching anything Russian for a long, long time. Same with China.

[Value Digger]

Unlike other stock pickers who were bullish on many Russian stocks, we advised investors to avoid the Russian names in 2022.

We did know that the Russian stocks were in a "Blood in the Streets" situation, but they could fall further due to a handful of reasons, so the risk remained very high.

Based on today's news regarding the removal of the Russian listings from indexes, the Russian stocks in 2022 will perform worse than the Chinese stocks that have dropped a lot since early 2021.

[Iron Eagle]

@Value Digger - so that begs the question...all that money leaving those markets (Russia and China)....where will it go? Could this be an unforeseen boost to U.S. equities?

[Value Digger]

@Iron Eagle Yes. A portion of that money will be invested in US equities.

[JackWolf]

Funny, but its Russia that's now radioactive.

[treespace]

@JackWolf Not yet. The fire is contained and winds are out of the east so more likely western Europe gets the fallout from the deliberate targeting of nuclear power plants and children's hospitals by Russian artillery (mostly weapons banned by the Geneva convention).

[JackWolf]

@treespace I meant that Russian stocks shouldn't be touched. Also, Ukraine is in the prevailing westerlies so, no, any fallout would be directed towards Russia and away from Europe.

[Justin Cool]

@treespace How do you know you haven't been eating up US Propoganda?

[Chancer]

FINRA also stopped trading in only "some" OTC Russian stocks.

I do not understand why these agencies do not just stop all buying in all Russian stocks, because investors will just lose their money. My broker says "sales are on best efforts." I think that means when it reaches foreign clearing the sale will probably be reversed in shareholder broker accounts.

[Idkmuch]

Where are all the gazprom bulls etc telling me they knew more about Russia than me ? You guys are re awful quiet 🤫 lol

[User 3434471]

@Idkmuch Their boss at the bot farm has them destroying all their hard drives and preparing to lock up their offices in Moscow and St. Petersberg before the protestors seize the buildings

[jerseyvalueinvestor]

@Idkmuch busy attempting to sell?

Sell Mortimer Sell!!

www.investprovident.com/...

[bill h illify]

If someone clipped Putin…that would be the only reason to be in the RSX…then it would rocket higher, of course the rest of the worlds equity markets would bounce much higher as well…

[Luculus]

Who would invest in this crap other than so called experts from funds?
Russia will nationalize its stock market.

[Pranavi Kalavathamma]

@Luculus No it will not. It appears they are planning billions of investment when market opens.

[Luculus]

@Pranavi Kalavathamma
haha, right

[6228371]

@Luculus

www.reuters.com/...

That is just the Russian government. The larger Russian companies are also likely to repurchase many shares.

[skymole]

RSX is still trading as of now. Before deciding whether to gamble at these levels, I might recommend reading about the recent history of Ukraine, the Maidan coup in 2014, the ethnopolitical strife between western and eastern regions, etc. As one should expect, it is a much more complex situation than the just-so story put forward by most US media organs. In any case, good luck to all.

[CashFlow13]

@jemicarus As always when you hear those war drums beating we should all pause and try to see what the whole situation involves.

[Doctor E]

> BlackRock said it supports the NYSE’s decision to halt trading on the ETF, stating that it is devoted to defending the best interests of ERUS shareholders.

Ha ha. That's a good one.

[Searchingfor Value]

Many have been frozen not allowing investors to sell so as available markets disappear what happens to someone who had stock is question,

[bill h illify]

@Searchingfor Value
Start boiling bark…it has some nutrients. Unfortunately until the Russian citizens stand up to their government and remove them…Russia will be uninvestable as long as Putin is alive.

[Mr Briggens]

@bill h illify

Coke is still in Russia.

I've emailed investor relations as a shareholder to demand they leave immediately.

The corporate doublespeak statement they released will do more harm to KO than New Coke.

tass.com/...

[Justin Cool]

@Searchingfor Value You will then have no money and you can be a poor bum on the street.