VGK “is one of the cheapest and best-diversified funds in the Europe stock Morningstar Category. The portfolio is made up of nearly 1,200 stocks across the market-cap spectrum from 16 developed countries in Europe, representing 98% of the investable market,” said Morningstar in a recent note.
VGK just got a little cheaper. Last week, Vanguard unveiled another round of fee cuts and VGK was part of that group. The Europe ETF now charges 0.1% per year, or $10 on a $10,000 investment, down from 0.12% per year.
“The fund weights these holdings by market cap, which promotes low turnover and reflects the market’s collective view about the relative value of each holding. Style purists should note that because the portfolio is tilted toward large multinational firms, such as Novartis (NVS), Vodafone Group (VOD), and Nestle (NSRGY), it does not offer clean exposure to the European economy. However, most of the fund’s country and sector weightings are similar to the category average, though VGK has greater exposure to financial-services stocks and less exposure to the technology sector,” adds Morningstar.
VGK is up almost 3.7% year-to-date.
For more information on the European markets, visit our Europe category.