State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), the third-largest U.S. issuer of exchange traded funds, said it will split the SPDR Barclays International Treasury Bond ETF (NYSEArca: BWX).
BWX’s “stock split is effective after the close of business on September 28, 2016. On September 29, 2016, the fund’s shares will begin trading on a split-adjusted basis,” said SSgA in a statement.
The ETF will be split 2-for-1. BWX has a modified adjusted duration of 8.1 years and tracks the Barclays Global Treasury ex-US Capped Index.
BWX allocates over 23% of its weight to Japanese bonds. The U.K. and France combine for over 14% of the ETF’s weight. Over 35 countries are represented in BWX.
Japanese government bonds are gaining momentum as global uncertainty pushed investors into safe-haven assets. Consequently, yields on benchmark 10-year Japanese government bonds dipped into negative territory earlier this year.
[related_stories]The negative yield on a bond essentially means people are paying for the privilege of lending to the Japanese government. With yields now down into the negative territory, it also suggests that there is continued demand for JGBs.
Similar to what happened in the U.S. after the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing policy, falling yields in fixed-income assets could push investors to riskier and higher-yielding assets in the Eurozone. BWX has a 30-day SEC yield of 0.35%.
BWX is home to 795 bonds.
SPDR Barclays International Treasury Bond ETF
For more information on the fixed-income market, visit our bond ETFs category.