ETF Spotlight: SPDR Dow Jones Euro STOXX 50 (FEZ)

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ETF Spotlight on SPDR Dow Jones Euro STOXX 50 (NYSEArca: FEZ), part of a weekly series.

Assets: $165.3 million

Objective: To track the performance of the EURO STOXX 50 Index, which tracks the performance of some of the largest companies across 19 subindexes.

Holdings: Some of the top European names, including Daimler, Banco Santander, Siemens, Bayer and Unilever.

What You Should Know

• This fund gives its heaviest weighting to the financial sector, which accounts for nearly 32%; if you’re not feeling good about European banks, you may want to think twice.
• Other sectors with around 9% to 10% exposure include industrials, utilities, telecommunications and energy.
• The top countries in the fund – France and Germany, at 36.9% and 28.1% respectively – have more stable economic outlooks than the next two countries, Spain (13.9%) and Italy (9.8%).

The Latest News

• After falling for a large part of this year, Europe and euro ETFs are on a winning streak; the euro alone is up 2.6% in the last two weeks. [ETFs for a Changing Sentiment.]
• FEZ is up 8.8% in the last two weeks and 18.7% in the last month.
• The ETF is still 45% off its December 2007 high, so like many Europe ETFs, it may be bargain-priced. [Why Euro ETFs Are Under the Weather.]
• Sentiment toward Europe has been renewed following the results of financial system “stress tests,” which showed that most banks are well-capitalized to withstand a crisis.

For past ETF Spotlights, visit our ETF Spotlight page.