SPDR® Blmbg Intl Trs Bd ETF earns a Morningstar Medalist Rating of Neutral with strength in areas such as People offset by weaker spots such as Process. The portfolio maintains a cost advantage over competitors, priced within the cheapest fee quintile among peers.  

 The strategy receives a Below Average Process Pillar rating. Independent of the rating, analysis of the strategy's portfolio shows it has maintained a significant underweight position in corporate bonds and an overweight in A rated bonds compared with category peers. The strategy’s management team earns an Above Average People Pillar rating. The strategy's parent organization earns the firm an Above Average Parent Pillar rating. People Pillar and Parent Pillar ratings for this strategy are indirectly assigned by a Morningstar analyst rather than algorithmically derived. Please see the notes following each pillar section for more details. The details of assigning methods can be found in each pillar section.

Analyst Rating

SPDR® Blmbg Intl Trs Bd ETF earns a Below Average Process Pillar rating. Morningstar's evaluation of this security's process aims to determine the likelihood that it will outperform its Morningstar Category benchmark on a risk-adjusted basis over the long term. The process benefits from its parent firm's impressive long-term risk-adjusted performance, as shown by the firm's average 10-year Morningstar Rating of 3.3 stars. However, the rating is held back by the fund's mediocre long-term risk-adjusted performance. This can be seen in its five-year alpha calculated relative to the category index, which suggests that the process has struggled over that period. The parent firm's five-year retention rate of 74% also limits the process.

The investment strategy as stated in the fund's prospectus is: 

The investment seeks to provide investment results that, before fees and expenses, correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Bloomberg Global Treasury ex-US Capped Index.  The fund generally invests substantially all, but at least 80%, and of its total assets in the securities comprising the index and in securities that the Adviser determines have economic characteristics that are substantially identical to the economic characteristics of the securities that comprise the index. The index is designed to track the fixed-rate local currency sovereign debt of investment grade countries outside the United States. It is non-diversified.  

 This strategy has a modest 1.7% 12-month yield, lower than its average peers' 2.8%. Plus, its 30-day SEC yield (a measure similar to yield-to-maturity) sits at 2.6%. While a lower yield may deliver less income, it also tends to indicate lower credit risk. The portfolio has a higher average surveyed credit quality of A, compared with the typical peers' BBB, and it holds no non-investment-grade assets, despite the average peers' 12%. Strategies with lower credit risk can typically withstand market turmoil more effectively. In terms of long-term interest-rate risk, this strategy is on par with peers. The longer a strategy's duration, the more sensitive it is to shifts in interest rates. This fund, with a 7.9-year duration, is expected to gain 7.9% of its net asset value if interest rates drop by 1 percentage point, and vice versa.

Below Average

Process

SPDR® Blmbg Intl Trs Bd ETF benefits considerably from its fixed income team, earning it an Above Average People Pillar rating. There are two managers listed on the fund: James Kramer, Joanna Madden. Together, they manage a total of two strategies, with a Neutral asset-weighted average Morningstar Medalist Rating, indicating the team will struggle to deliver positive alpha relative to the category median in aggregate.  

 Note: This People Pillar rating is indirectly assigned by an analyst. Morningstar analysts evaluate the People Pillar for passive products at the brand level and may also differentiate by asset class. There is at least one other passive strategy at the firm that is covered by a Morningstar analyst, so the People Pillar rating of the fund is inherited from the rating that the Morningstar analyst assigned to investment vehicles under the same brand name.

Above Average

People

State Street Global Advisors is under new leadership but continues to move along the positive trajectory established by former leaders. SSGA maintains its Above Average Parent Pillar rating.
Cyrus Taraporevala, who oversaw much of SSGA’s recent transformation, retired from the CEO position in December 2022 and passed the baton to his successor, Yie-Hsin Hung. She inherited a business that’s become more disciplined with its fund lineup. Fees have come down, while product development remains focused on fixed-income and sustainability funds, and many of SSGA’s launches have echoed that intention.
The seeds that SSGA planted over the past several years have been bearing fruit. It built out a low-cost series of portfolio building-block ETFs in the U.S. bearing the “SPDR Portfolio” branding. SSGA launched these later than its industry rivals, so they aren’t as large. But they’re competitive, with solid management and low fees, which helped them consistently take in new money over the past several years.
SSGA continued to overhaul its ETF business in Europe with most of its recent fixed-income and sustainability fund launches. Many of these funds track indexes and charge relatively low fees. With operations in the U.S. and Europe standing on a firm foundation, SSGA will put more focus on its Asia-Pacific business—the smallest regional segment of its business.

Parent

SPDR Bloomberg International Treasury Bond ETF

BWX tracks a market-value-weighted index of investment-grade, fixed-rate government bonds issued by countries outside the US.

A reader asked for my thoughts on BWX. BWX offers diversified exposure to international government bonds, but with higher risk and lower returns compared to US treasuries. It has few important benefits. An overview of the fund follows.

BWX: International Treasury Bond ETF, Uncompelling Value Proposition

SPDR Bloomberg International Treasury Bond ETF owns investment-grade international treasury bonds with minimal credit risk. BWX has declined significantly since 2021, losing over 32% of its value from its peak. The fund's interest yield is not attractive compared to the U.S. treasury yield, but its fund price may benefit from a weakening U.S. dollar and lower global inflation in the future.

BWX: Meaningful Capital Appreciation Likely In 2024 And 2025

BWX is an exchange-traded fund focused on international government bonds. The fund purchases investment-grade bonds only, making it a rates play. The fund was down -20% last year as central banks hiked rates.

BWX: International Government Bonds And A Nice Dollar Play

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Nearly all major asset classes experienced gains in the week through June 2, except for commodities, which saw a fractional decline. Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund rose 3.4% last week, marking its first weekly increase in over a month.

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U.S. REITs Rebound, But Bearish Trend Still Weighs On Sector

BWX is part of a class of ETFs that investors could be excused for ignoring since at least 2018, if not several years prior. This ETF buys government bonds from many nations, just not from the US.

BWX: As 2 Mega-Trends Reverse, This ETF Finally Deserves A Look

The major asset classes continued to recover in the trading week through Friday, Nov. 11, based on a set of ETF proxies. The lone exception: a broad measure of commodities.

Real Estate Ex-U.S. Led Ongoing Rebound In Markets Last Week

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US stocks led the October bounce. Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund surged 8.1%.

Major Asset Classes: October 2022 Performance Review

US trading resumes tomorrow after a long Labor Day weekend, with the backdrop of risk-off sentiment dominating recent activity in the major asset classes. US stocks (VTI) posted a relatively middling loss, shedding 3.7% last month.

Major Asset Classes: August 2022 Performance Review

Inflation-indexed Treasuries (TIP) topped performance list in November with a 0.9% gain. A broad measure of US bonds (BND) was in second place with a 0.2% return.

Major Asset Classes: November 2021 Performance Review

Vanguard Total US Bond Market (BND) bucked the trend and posted a fractional 0.05% weekly gain. There are signs in early trading today (Mon., Nov 29) that global markets are stabilizing after Friday's rout.

Only U.S. Bonds Were Spared From Last Week's Widespread Losses

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Plus, some interesting ETFs launched last week, and some expense ratios saw a range of adjustments.

ETF Odds & Ends: Multiple Funds Change Names

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International diversification for bond allocations is, in theory, an attractive concept, but in practice it's not working out so great in 2021 for US investors, based on a set of ETFs. A key headwind for foreign bonds is the rebound in the US dollar.

Foreign Bond ETFs Are Having A Tough Year

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International bond exchange traded funds could be in trouble as investors think about cutting exposure to Eurozone debt with the European Central Bank looking to taper its emerging bond-purchasing program. Over the past three months, the iShares International Treasury Bond ETF (IGOV) fell 1.3%, and the SPDR Bloomberg Barclays International Treasury Bond ETF (BWX) dropped [.

International Bond ETFs Could Weaken as ECB Pulls Support

US bonds posted the only gain for the major asset classes for the trading week ended Friday, June 18, based on a set of ETFs. For the one-year trend, all but one of the major asset classes are posting gains, although the range of results varies widely.

Widespread Losses Weighed On Global Markets Last Week

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The value factor, after a long drought, is showing signs of life. To be fair, not every deeply discounted market corner has rallied.

Deep-Value ETF Report: 16 June 2021

The rise in commodities led mostly positive returns for the major asset classes for the trading week through Apr. 23, based on a set of exchange traded funds.

Commodities Led Returns For Global Markets Last Week

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The value-investing concept remains on the defensive, although some variations of the strategy are showing hints of a revival in recent months after an extended drought.

Deep-Value ETF Report: 31 March 2021

Broadly defined commodities posted the strongest gain for the major asset classes in last week's trading, followed closely by wide-ranging rallies in fixed-income markets around the world, based on set of ETFs.

Commodities Rallied As U.S. REITs Tumbled Last Week

Vanguard US Real Estate rose 6.9% by the close of trading on Friday, Nov. 13, ending near its highest level since the coronavirus crash in March.

Property Shares Led Broad Rally In Global Markets Last Week

Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets surged 7.6% - the fund's strongest weekly increase since April. The rally lifted the ETF to its highest close so far in the post-coronavirus-crash rebound.

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There are many value metrics and so no one should confuse the 5-year performance benchmark as the definitive measure of bargain-priced assets.

News for SPDR Bloomberg International Treasury Bond ETF ETF (BWX)