French CAC 40 leading the pack among Europe's majors

European market recovery has been underway for quite some time as vaccination campaigns have reached their final stages and economies go back to normal with the reopening of public and private spaces and traveling restarting. Year-to-date the EURO STOXX 50 index has gained 15.4%, led by Dutch multinational bank ING Group (+65%), Dutch Semiconductor manufacturer ASML Holding (+62%) and German automotive manufacturer Daimler AG (+40%).

In terms of individual country benchmark indices, France's CAC 40 has been leading the pack this year with around +19% gains, followed by Italy's FTSE MIB (+17%) and UK's FTSE 100 (+16.5%). Spain's IBEX 35 and Switzerland's SMI 20 on the other hand, have been lagging with +11% and +8% gains respectively.

For investors interested in gaining exposure to the CAC 40, Lyxor CAC 40 (DR) UCITS ETF is one of the largest ETFs in European markets with €3.67 billion and an expense ratio of 0.25%. Year-to-date the fund has returned around +20%. For access to the broader European market, the iShares Core EURO STOXX 50 UCITS ETF provides exposure to the 50 largest companies in the eurozone, charging an annual fee of 0.1%. The ETF has gained around 15% this year.

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