It has been a trying year for several marquee European equity markets, but that has not stopped issuers of exchange traded funds from bringing new products focused on European stocks to market.
ALPS introduced the ALPS STOXX Europe 600 ETF (NYSEArca: STXX) today. Index provider STOXX licensed the STOXX Europe 600 Index to Colorado-based ALPS. There are 10 ETFs trading around the world that track the benchmark, which accounts for about 90% of the market cap for developed Europe, according to a statement.
The index is one of the broadest measures of European stocks and includes members of the STOXX Europe 200 Mid and STOXX Europe 200 Small indices. Those companies have historically outperformed the members of the STOXX Europe 200 Large Index, according to ALPS.
Only stocks with a three-month average daily trading volume of at least 1 million euros are eligible for inclusion in the new ETF. STXX charges 0.25% per year.
“Launched June 15, 1998, the STOXX Europe 600 Index represents the performance of companies across 18 European countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK,” said ALPS in the statement.