State Street Global Advisors recently launched a new exchange traded fund (ETF) focused on bonds. The SPDR Lehman International Treasury Bond Fund (BWX) began trading on the American stock exchange on Friday, Oct. 5. It’s the first international bond ETF available to U.S. investors and has an annual expense ratio of 0.5%.

The ETF is designed to provide low-cost access to international fixed income, which is an asset class that historically has had a low correlation with the U.S. stock and bond markets. BWX will track the Lehman Brothers Global Treasury Ex-U.S. Capped Index, which follows fixed-rate local currency sovereign debt of countries outside the U.S. BWX provides exposure to 674 issues from 18 countries denominated in 11 currencies. This ETF is the latest launch in addition to State Street’s other fixed-income ETFs that were launched earlier this year.

Tags: Bond ETFs, Currency ETFs