Fighting the ravages of inflation just got easier.
In mid-March, State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) launched the SPDR DB International Government Inflation-Protected Bond ETF (WIP) on the American Stock Exchange. The new ETF tracks the DB Global Government ex-U.S. Inflation-Linked Bond Capped Index, which includes 120 inflation-indexed bonds from 18 developed and emerging countries outside of the U.S.
The bonds in the fund have an average credit quality of Aa1 and average duration life of 9.06 years. According to the prospectus, the fund's annual expense ratio is 0.50 percent.
To be included in the index, bonds must be capital-indexed and linked to an eligible inflation index; have at least one year remaining to maturity at the index rebalancing date; have a fixed, step-up or zero notional coupon; and settle on or before the index rebalancing date.
