Post-Iran Winners: Oil, Energy, And Israel

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Equities around the world continue to take it on the chin this March, with month-to-date performance coinciding with the beginning of the start of the war in Iran over the last weekend of February.
Below is a look at our asset class performance matrix featuring total returns for dozens of ETFs across domestic and international equities, sectors, currencies, commodities, and fixed income.
For each ETF, we show year-to-date performance through February along with performance so far in March.

ETFs across asset classes are bleeding red this month with the exception of a few: Bitcoin (IBIT), the Energy sector (XLE), oil (USO) and other energy/ag commodities, and Israel (EIS).  Of these month-to-date winners, oil (USO), the agriculture commodities ETF (DBA), the Energy sector (XLE), and Israel (EIS) are the only ones that were also up year-to-date before the Iran war began.
On the downside, mid-caps and small-caps have been some of the hardest hit domestic index ETFs, with mid-cap value (IJJ) down the most at -8.1%.
Every sector ETF is down this month except Energy (XLE), with Materials (XLB) down the most at -12%.
Outside the US, country ETFs like France (EWQ), Germany (EWG), India (INDA), Italy (EWI), Japan (EWJ), and Mexico (EWW) are all down 10%+ since the war, while gold (GLD) and silver (SLV) have also gotten pummeled.  Additionally, fixed income has not offered any safety due to inflation concerns brought about by the war.  The 20+ Year Treasury ETF (TLT) is already down 5.2% since the bombings began.

Below is a look at the recent performance of more than 40 country stock market ETFs traded on US exchanges.
On average, these country ETFs were up 9.7% through the first two months of 2026.  Since the end of February, though, they're down an average of 9.7%.  Just a few weeks ago, it looked like 2026 was likely to be another year of outperformance for international markets.  Now that there's war in the Middle East and the Strait of Hormuz is unofficially closed for business, countries that heavily rely on energy imports are getting hit (with the exception of Israel).  Along with Israel (EIS), Norway (ENOR) is the only other country ETF that's positive this month.  As a reminder, Norway is one of the few non-Middle Eastern countries that's a net exporter of oil.
Six country ETFs are down 15%+ since the war began: Indonesia (EIDO), Vietnam (VNAM), South Korea (EWY), UAE (UAE), Peru (EPU), and South Africa (EZA).
Of the G7 countries, the US (SPY) is down the least with a decline of 5.3%, followed by Canada (EWC) -- down 8%, and the UK (EWU) -- down 9.9%.