Many investors are nervous about the state of the US dollar, probably for good reasons. For conservative investors that want to hedge a little against the greenback and want to minimize the spiked risk of stocks, the following five ETFs may be worth looking into:
iShares 1-3 Year International Treasury Bond Fund (ISHG): This $10m ETF generally corresponds to the S&P/Citigroup International Treasury Bond Index (ex-US). Trading at $102.22 and yielding 1.56%, the ETF trades at light volume (around 2000 shares) with a track record trading range of $92.84-102.87.
Barclays Capital SPDR International Treasury Bond (BWX): This $915m ETF corresponds to an index that tracks fixed-rate local currency sovereign debt of investment-grade countries (ex-US). Trading at $53.84 and yielding 2.71%, the ETF trades at solid volume (around 125,000 shares) with a 52-week trading range of $43.00-56.70.
iShares S&P/Citigroup International Treasury Bond Fund (IGOV): This $19m ETF corresponds to the S&P/Citigroup International Treasury Bond Index (ex-US). Trading at $99.84 and yielding 0.22%, this ETF trades at a light volume (around 4000 shares) with a track record trading range of $91.40-101.03.
Barclays Capital SPDR Sort Term International Treasury Bond Fund (BWZ): The $11m ETF corresponds to an index that measures the 1-3 year fixed rate investment grade debt issued by foreign governments of developed countries. Trading at $35.00, this ETF trades at a light volume (around 2500 shares) with a trading range of $31.25-35.19.
Barclays Capital SPDR DB International Income Fund (WIP): This $255m ETF corresponds to the DB Global Government (ex-US) Inflation-linked Bond Capped Index. Trading at $50.97 and yielding a respectable 4.48%, this ETF trades at a solid volume (around 85000 shares) with a trading range of $42.34-62.78.
This is a basic roster for interested investors to research on your own. I own BWX and WIP at present. BWX is in my Permanent Portfolio and WIP is in my Speculative Portfolio.
Use this post as a first step towards diversifying away from the US dollar conservatively. My advice would be to keep maturities short,and research inflation-protected products ex-US.
As with any investment in the current environment, remember Investment Rule #1: Nothing ever turns out exactly as planned.
Full Disclosure: Author owns BWX and WIP.
