IndexFunds.com Staff

AXA Investment Managers Steps Into ETF Ring

Three exchange-traded funds (ETFs) based on broad global and regional benchmarks began trading on Euronext yesterday. They are hitched to the following indexes:

• Dow Jones Global Titans 50 Index
• Dow Jones STOXX 50 Index
• Dow Jones Euro STOXX 50 Index

Euronext is the exchange created by the merger of the Amsterdam, Brussels, and Paris exchanges in September 2000. The exchange now lists several ETFs, including "Leaders" (LDRS) and several Barclays iShares based on Bloomberg indexes.

The announcement signals the entry of AXA Investment Managers into the ever-expanding world of ETFs, or "trackers" as they call them in Europe. These three new offerings are the first in a series by AXA called EasyETF.

There are currently two LDRS that trade on Euronext that are based on the STOXX 50 and the Euro STOXX 50, but now Europeans have access to a broad global index comprised of international blue chip companies in the Global Titans Index.

"We chose the Dow Jones Global Titans 50 to offer European investors 50 of the world's leading multinational corporations," said Timothy Ryan, head of quantitative research for AXA Investment Managers.

Sources: Dow Jones Indexes, STOXX daily closing price index data - all data as of 4/25/2001

The STOXX 50 index holds large companies throughout Europe, while the Euro STOXX 50 is comprised of securities from countries in the Eurozone (countries that will soon transition exclusively to Euro currency). The chart below shows the performance of the two indexes over the past decade:

Chart courtesy of STOXX

State Street to Launch REIT ETF

The American Stock Exchange (AMEX) will commence trading on a streetTRACKS ETF tied to the Wilshire Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Index tomorrow. The new fund, managed by State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), will have an expense ratio of 0.25% and trade under the symbol RWR.

Source: Morningstar data as of 3/30/2001