State Street’s (NYSE: STT) State Street Global Advisors, the second-largest U.S. issuer of exchange traded funds, announced Thursday it has expanded its lineup of muti-factor single-country ETFs with the introduction of three new funds.
One of the new ETFs from SSgA is the SPDR MSCI Mexico Quality Mix ETF (NYSEArca: QMEX). Although Mexico is Latin America’s second-largest economy behind Brazil, QMEX will compete with just two other Mexico-specific ETFs, indicating there could be room for a new competitor to make a splash among Mexico ETFs. [Mexican Stocks Loved by Hedge Funds]
The other new funds are the SPDR MSCI South Korea Quality Mix ETF (NYSEArca: QKOR) and the SPDR MSCI Taiwan Quality Mix ETF (NYSEArca: QTWN). With the debut of QKOR, there are now five South Korea ETFs available to U.S. investors. QTWN makes for third U.S.-listed Taiwan ETF.
State Street’s new ETFs add to the existing nine multi-factor SPDR MSCI Quality Mix ETFs that were launched in June 2014. Those funds include the nearly $6 million SPDR MSCI Australia Quality Mix ETF (NYSEArca: QAUS), the $8.5 million SPDR MSCI Spain Quality Mix ETF (NYSEArca: QESP), the SPDR MSCI Canada Quality Mix ETF (NYSEArca: QCAN) and the SPDR MSCI Japan Quality Mix ETF (NYSEArca: QJPN). [SSgA Takes Multi-Factor Approach to Country ETFs]
All nine of the multi-factor single-country ETFs from SSgA follow MSCI indices. The quality factor “captures excess returns to stocks that are characterized by low debt, stable earnings growth and other ‘quality’ metrics,” according to MSCI.
The quality mix methodology found in the nine ETFs provides three key benefits: The index emphasizes quality, value and low volatility stocks that have historically outperformed the market over the long-term; provides a more equal weight approach to diminish concentration; and creates broad market exposure and diversification. [Inside SSgA’s Multi-Factor ETFs]