SSGA Launches First International Bond ETF (BWX)
By Carl Delfeld of the Chartwell ETF Advisor
The first international fixed income exchange-traded fund was lainched late last week by State Street Global Advisors.
The objective of the SPDR® Lehman International Treasury Bond ETF (BWX) is to provide investment results that, before fees and expenses, correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Lehman Brothers Global Treasury ex-US Index.
No doubt it will take a little time for the ETF basket to look a bit more like the index which has 674 bonds. Specifically, 22.8% of the index is accounted for by Japan, Germany is at 12.7%, Italy at 12.2% and Spain, Belgium and the United Kingdom are each at 4.6%.
Right now, 39% of BWX's bonds have maturities of between five and ten years with an average coupon rate of 4.2%. The ETF has an annual expense ratio of 0.50%.
Chartwell ETF is considering adding BWX to some of its more conservative ETF portfolios.
The page on the statestreet site that says 90 whatever % in Japan is incorrect. If you look elsewhere on the site you will see 22% is the correct figure for Japan.
I called in with another question and had this point confirmed.
Posted by: Roger Nusbaum | October 08, 2007 at 10:17 AM