All the world's major equity regions continue to post year-to-date gains, but stocks in Eastern Europe/Russia, followed closely by US shares, are in the lead by a healthy margin, based on a set of exchanged-listed funds.
Edging into the lead in recent days is Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), a closed-end fund that offers the only US-exchange-listed product that targets this region. CEE's 24.1% return so far in 2019 (through Oct. 30) is slightly ahead of the US performance via SPDR S&P 500 (SPY), which is up 23.4%.
The US-Russian relationship is strained from a