• Chart of the week: Sales growth for Japan ETFs, 2011E vs. 2010
• Fund Focus: iShares MSCI Japan (EWJ)
• Revisions, asset flows & short interest
• 2011 Sales per share estimates, growth rates, and P/S multiples for major ETFs
• Market monitor - movers & categories

Your humble analyst has deep personal connections in Japan and like most people is deeply saddened by the tragedy still unfolding there. It's likely that Japanese stocks will sell-off when markets reopen, and that the seven Japan ETFs we cover will follow suit when they open for trading in New York. Yet none of the funds have a high ALTAR Score™, so we have to caution investors against bargain hunting even after the initial sell-off. 

It was clear even before the disaster hit that sales growth for Japanese firms was anticipated to slow dramatically. In fact, the roughly 3-4% growth rate anticipated for this year is slower than for any other broad ETF we cover (see page 4 in the newsletter). Now add to that the disruption to the economy--not just consumers but also production--and the outlook is fairly bleak.

The less export-oriented small caps could be hit the hardest, so their recent outperformance could come to an end. For investors who need to maintain exposure to the country, we prefer large caps such as those in the bellwether iShares MSCI Japan fund (EWJ), which is the subject of this week's Fund Focus.