ETF Spotlight on the SPDR Barclays International Treasury Bond ETF (NYSEArca: BWX), part of an ongoing series.
Assets: $2.4 billion
Objective: The SPDR Barclays International Treasury Bond ETF tries to reflect the performance of the Barclays Global Treasury ex-US Capped Index, which includes fixed-rate local currency sovereign debt of investment grade countries outside of the U.S.
Holdings: Top holdings include Korea Trasury Bond 3.5 03/10/2024 1.1%, Japan-95 2.3 06/20//2027 0.7% and Korea Treasury Bond 3.125 03/10/2019 0.7%.
What You Should Know:
- State Street Global Advisor’s sponsors the fund.
- BWX has a 0.50% expense ratio.
- The ETF has 682 holdings and the top ten components make up 6.5% of the overall portfolio.
- Credit quality breakdown includes Aaa 31.3%, Aa 46.3%, A 6.9% and Baa 15.5%.
- Country allocations include japan 22.9%, U.K. 7.3%, Italy 6.8%, France 6.6%, Germany 5.4%, Spain 4.6%, Canada 4.6%, Belgium 4.6%, Netherlands 4.6%, South Korea 4.5%, Austria 3.6%, Australia 3.3%, Mexico 2.1%, Ireland 1.8%, Denmark 1.7%, Poland 1.4, Finland 1.4%, Switzerland 1.4%, Sweden 1.2%, Thailand 1.2% and Malaysia 1.1%.
- The fund is up 1.2% over the past month, up 4.9% year-to-date and up 2.8% over the past year.
- BWX is 2.2% above its 200-day exponential moving average.
- The ETF has a 7.34 year duration
- The fund comes with a 1.39% 30-day SEC yield.
- Since the fund tracks local-currency denominated debt, investors will be exposed to currency risks, so currency fluctuations can affect the fund’s returns.
- “International bonds historically have proved to be a good portfolio diversifier,” according to Morningstar analyst Timothy Strauts.
Next page: The latest news