SPDR funds (pronounced "spider") are a family of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) traded in the United States, Europe, and Asia-Pacific and managed by State Street Global Advisors (SSGA). Informally, they are also known as Spyders or Spiders. SPDR is a trademark of Standard and Poor's Financial Services LLC, a subsidiary of McGraw Hill Financial.
The name is an acronym for the first member of the family, the Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts, now the SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE Arca: SPY), which is designed to track the S&P 500 stock market index. For a long time, this fund was the largest ETF in the world. SSGA also manage the SPDR Gold Shares, which for a while was the second-largest ETF in the world. As of August 2012, they were the first and second largest exchange-traded products in the world.
The funds are formulated as unit investment trusts. In 2007, SSGA rebranded its other United States ETFs as SPDRs, including the StreetTRACKS family and its other flagship ETF shares, the DOW DIAMONDS (NYSE Arca: DIA), that tracks the Dow Jones Industrial Average. This move united all U.S. ETFs managed by SSGA, a total of 23 at that time, under a single brand. At the end of 2006, the total portfolio that became known as SPDRs had $102 billion of assets under management.
As of June 2013, SPDR is the second largest ETF provider, behind iShares, and ahead of Vanguard, with assets of $337 bn.
In 1995, Mid-Cap SPDRs (NYSE Arca: MDY) were launched by the Bank of New York to track Standard & Poor's S&P 400 index of middle-market equity shares.
The DIAMONDS (NYSE Arca: DIA) were developed, like the original SPDR, by SSGA in cooperation with the American Stock Exchange. DOW DIAMOND shares are designed to track the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
In 1998, SSGA and Merrill Lynch introduced the Sector Spiders, nine funds which follow the ten GICS sectors of the S&P 500. Because the S&P 500 contains only eight telecommunications companies, those companies are a part of the information technology SPDR (NYSE Arca: XLK), and that one fund represents those two sectors.
SSGA also launched a number of index-based ETFs under the brand StreetTRACKS. These were renamed SPDRs in 2007.
SSGA also manages ETFs that are sold on exchanges outside the United States.
In Australia SSGA manages three SPDR branded ETFs. They are listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and are the following:
S&P/ASX 50 Fund (50 top market cap stocks) SFYS&P/ASX 200 Fund (200 top market cap stocks) STWS&P/ASX 200 A-REIT Property Fund (200 Listed Property Fund) SLFDow Jones Global Real Estate ETF NYSE Arca: RWODow Jones Global Titans ETF NYSE Arca: DGTDow Jones International Real Estate ETF NYSE Arca: RWXDow Jones REIT ETF NYSE Arca: RWRDow Jones STOXX 50 ETF NYSE Arca: FEUDow Jones EURO STOXX 50 ETF NYSE Arca: FEZDow Diamonds NYSE Arca: DIA (SGX:D07) - Tracks Dow Jones Industrial AverageS&P 500 ETF NYSE Arca: SPY (SGX:S27) - Tracks S&P 500 IndexS&P Biotech ETF NYSE Arca: XBIS&P BRIC 40 ETF NYSE Arca: BIKS&P China ETF NYSE Arca: GXCS&P Dividend ETF NYSE Arca: SDYS&P Pharmaceuticals ETF NYSE Arca: XPHS&P Retail ETF NYSE Arca: XRTS&P Homebuilders ETF NYSE Arca: XHBS&P Emerging Asia Pacific ETF NYSE Arca: GMFS&P Emerging Markets ETF NYSE Arca: GMMS&P Emerging Markets Small Cap ETF NYSE Arca: EWXS&P MidCap 400 ETF NYSE Arca: MDYS&P International Small Cap ETF NYSE Arca: GWXS&P International Consumer Discretionary Sector ETF NYSE Arca: IPDS&P International Consumer Staples Sector ETF NYSE Arca: IPSS&P International Dividend ETF NYSE Arca: DWXS&P International Energy Sector ETF NYSE Arca: IPWS&P International Financial Sector ETF NYSE Arca: IPFS&P International Health Care Sector ETF NYSE Arca: IRYS&P International Industrial Sector ETF NYSE Arca: IPNS&P International Materials Sector ETF NYSE Arca: IRVS&P International Technology Sector ETF NYSE Arca: IPKS&P International Telecommunications Sector ETF NYSE Arca: ISTS&P International Utilities Sector ETF NYSE Arca: IPUS&P Metals and Mining ETF NYSE Arca: XMES&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Services ETF NYSE Arca: XESS&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF NYSE Arca: XOPS&P Semiconductor ETF NYSE Arca: XSDS&P World ex-US ETF NYSE Arca: GWLBarclays Capital 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF NYSE Arca: BILBarclays Capital Aggregate Bond ETF NYSE Arca: LAGBarclays Capital Convertible Secs NYSE Arca: CWBBarclays Capital Municipal Bond ETF NYSE Arca: TFIBarclays Capital Short Term Municipal Bond ETF NYSE Arca: SHMBarclays Capital Short Term International Treasury Bond ETF NYSE Arca: BWZBarclays Capital High Yield Bond ETF NYSE Arca: JNKBarclays Capital Intermediate Term Credit Bond ETF NYSE Arca: ITRBarclays Capital Intermediate Term Treasury ETF NYSE Arca: ITEBarclays Capital International Treasury Bond ETF NYSE Arca: BWXBarclays Capital Long Term Credit Bond ETF NYSE Arca: LWCBarclays Capital Mortgage Backed Bond ETF NYSE Arca: MBGBarCap ST High Yield Bond ETF NYSE Arca: SJNKBarclays Capital TIPS ETF NYSE Arca: IPEConsumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund NYSE Arca: XLYConsumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund NYSE Arca: XLPDB International Government Inflation-Protected Bond ETF NYSE Arca: WIPEnergy Select Sector SPDR Fund NYSE Arca: XLEFinancial Select Sector SPDR Fund NYSE Arca: XLFFTSE Greater China ETF (HKEx:3073)Gold Shares NYSE Arca: GLD (HKEx:2840) (SGX:O87)Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund NYSE Arca: XLVIndustrial Select Sector SPDR Fund NYSE Arca: XLIKBW Bank ETF NYSE Arca: KBEKBW Capital Markets ETF NYSE Arca: KCEKBW Regional Banking ETF NYSE Arca: KREKBW Insurance ETF NYSE Arca: KIEMaterials Select Sector SPDR Fund NYSE Arca: XLBMorgan Stanley Technology ETF NYSE Arca: MTKMSCI ACWI ex-US ETF NYSE Arca: CWIRussell/Nomura PRIME Japan ETF NYSE Arca: JPPStraits Times Index ETF (SGX:ES3)Technology Select SPDR Fund NYSE Arca: XLKUtilities Select Sector SPDR Fund NYSE Arca: XLU
