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) SFY
S&P/ASX 200 Fund (200 top market cap stocks) STW
S&P/ASX 200 A-REIT Property Fund (200 Listed Property Fund) SLF
Dow Jones Global Real Estate ETF NYSE Arca: RWO
Dow Jones Global Titans ETF NYSE Arca: DGT
Dow Jones International Real Estate ETF NYSE Arca: RWX
Dow Jones REIT ETF NYSE Arca: RWR
Dow Jones STOXX 50 ETF NYSE Arca: FEU
Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 ETF NYSE Arca: FEZ
Dow Diamonds NYSE Arca: DIA (SGX:D07) - Tracks Dow Jones Industrial Average
S&P 500 ETF NYSE Arca: SPY (SGX:S27) - Tracks S&P 500 Index
S&P Biotech ETF NYSE Arca: XBI
S&P BRIC 40 ETF NYSE Arca: BIK
S&P China ETF NYSE Arca: GXC
S&P Dividend ETF NYSE Arca: SDY
S&P Pharmaceuticals ETF NYSE Arca: XPH
S&P Retail ETF NYSE Arca: XRT
S&P Homebuilders ETF NYSE Arca: XHB
S&P Emerging Asia Pacific ETF NYSE Arca: GMF
S&P Emerging Markets ETF NYSE Arca: GMM
S&P Emerging Markets Small Cap ETF NYSE Arca: EWX
S&P MidCap 400 ETF NYSE Arca: MDY
S&P International Small Cap ETF NYSE Arca: GWX
S&P International Consumer Discretionary Sector ETF NYSE Arca: IPD
S&P International Consumer Staples Sector ETF NYSE Arca: IPS
S&P International Dividend ETF NYSE Arca: DWX
S&P International Energy Sector ETF NYSE Arca: IPW
S&P International Financial Sector ETF NYSE Arca: IPF
S&P International Health Care Sector ETF NYSE Arca: IRY
S&P International Industrial Sector ETF NYSE Arca: IPN
S&P International Materials Sector ETF NYSE Arca: IRV
S&P International Technology Sector ETF NYSE Arca: IPK
S&P International Telecommunications Sector ETF NYSE Arca: IST
S&P International Utilities Sector ETF NYSE Arca: IPU
S&P Metals and Mining ETF NYSE Arca: XME
S&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Services ETF NYSE Arca: XES
S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF NYSE Arca: XOP
S&P Semiconductor ETF NYSE Arca: XSD
S&P World ex-US ETF NYSE Arca: GWL
Barclays Capital 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF NYSE Arca: BIL
Barclays Capital Aggregate Bond ETF NYSE Arca: LAG
Barclays Capital Convertible Secs NYSE Arca: CWB
Barclays Capital Municipal Bond ETF NYSE Arca: TFI
Barclays Capital Short Term Municipal Bond ETF NYSE Arca: SHM
Barclays Capital Short Term International Treasury Bond ETF NYSE Arca: BWZ
Barclays Capital High Yield Bond ETF NYSE Arca: JNK
Barclays Capital Intermediate Term Credit Bond ETF NYSE Arca: ITR
Barclays Capital Intermediate Term Treasury ETF NYSE Arca: ITE
Barclays Capital International Treasury Bond ETF NYSE Arca: BWX
Barclays Capital Long Term Credit Bond ETF NYSE Arca: LWC
Barclays Capital Mortgage Backed Bond ETF NYSE Arca: MBG
BarCap ST High Yield Bond ETF NYSE Arca: SJNK
Barclays Capital TIPS ETF NYSE Arca: IPE
Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund NYSE Arca: XLY
Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund NYSE Arca: XLP
DB International Government Inflation-Protected Bond ETF NYSE Arca: WIP
Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund NYSE Arca: XLE
Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund NYSE Arca: XLF
FTSE Greater China ETF (HKEx:3073)
Gold Shares NYSE Arca: GLD (HKEx:2840) (SGX:O87)
Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund NYSE Arca: XLV
Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund NYSE Arca: XLI
KBW Bank ETF NYSE Arca: KBE
KBW Capital Markets ETF NYSE Arca: KCE
KBW Regional Banking ETF NYSE Arca: KRE
KBW Insurance ETF NYSE Arca: KIE
Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund NYSE Arca: XLB
Morgan Stanley Technology ETF NYSE Arca: MTK
MSCI ACWI ex-US ETF NYSE Arca: CWI
Russell/Nomura PRIME Japan ETF NYSE Arca: JPP
Straits Times Index ETF (SGX:ES3)
Technology Select SPDR Fund NYSE Arca: XLK
Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund NYSE Arca: XLU
