By the Numbers

Emerging markets take lead in 2014

Cristian Baitg | E+ | Getty Images

While U.S. indexes suffer from the dog days of summer, emerging markets look to be on a tear.

Markets in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are up more than 6 percent in July.

Year to date, equity indexes in Argentina and Ukraine are significantly outperforming their peers in developed markets, with returns averaging over 45 percent.

Among the BRICS, India's Sensex leads the group with a 24 percent gain, followed by indexes in Brazil and South Africa both gaining more than 12 percent so far this year.

As global markets hit multiyear highs, will investors' appetite for risk continue to drive these markets?

Read MoreThe rally in emerging markets: Should you get in?

Best Performing Markets

Country/Index Last MTD % Chg. YTD % Chg.
Argentina8,396.386.45%55.75%
Ukraine1,280.404.38%40.70%
Egypt8,744.397.06%28.92%
India26,271.853.38%24.10%
Turkey83,773.966.73%23.56%
Saudi Arabia10,214.737.27%19.67%
Indonesia5,098.644.51%19.29%
Philippines6,889.891.43%16.98%
Canada15,386.491.59%12.96%
South Africa3,091.792.09%12.50%
Brazil57,518.998.18%11.67%
Italy21,152.88-0.61%11.52%
Taiwan9,527.543.04%10.64%
New Zealand5,174.711.04%9.24%
Spain10,826.80-0.89%9.18%
S&P 5001,988.221.43%7.57%

Month to date, the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM), a fund that tracks the investment results of an index composed of large- and midcapitalization emerging market equities of 22 countries, is up over 3.75 percent.

This compares with its U.S. counterpart, the SPDR S&P 500 (SPY), which is up 1.5 percent in the same period.

Further, the ratio of EEM versus SPY—a technical measure used to calculate relative strength of the two groups—has fallen more than 8 percent since the high in March, implying that emerging market stocks have significantly outperformed U.S. stocks during the period.

In fact, the ratio is now at a short-term inflection point, hovering roughly 1 percent above its 50-day moving average.

A break below the average might indicate investors will continue to find emerging market returns more lucrative in the near term relative to U.S. markets.

The following ETFs provide a sample of securities traded in the U.S. with exposure to emerging markets.

Emerging Market ETFs

Symbol Description Last
EEMIShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund44.94
EDCDirexion Daily Emerging Markets Bull 3X34.55
GMMSPDR S&P Emerging Markets70.11
PXHPowerShares FTSE RAFI Emerging Markets Portfolio22.53
VWOVanguard Emerging Markets45.12
ILFIShares S&P Latin America 40 Index Fund40.95
GMLSPDR S&P Emerging Latin America67.67

—BY CNBC's Pradip Sigdyal