DAX vs SPEU

DAXBGlobal X DAX Germany ETF

SPEUAState Street SPDR Portfolio Europe ETF

In short

DAX Germany's headline blue-chip benchmark in a US wrapper. Roughly 40 of the country's largest listed companies, tracked by an index fund that charges 0.20% a year, well under half the typical fee for a single-country Europe ETF.

SPEU Europe in one line item, priced like a core holding. A 0.07% fee buys the whole STOXX Europe Total Market Index, large caps down to small, in a fund that has been running since 2002.

Stated mandate

DAX The fund seeks to track the price and yield performance of the DAX Index before fees and expenses.

SPEU The fund seeks to deliver returns generally corresponding to the total return of the STOXX Europe Total Market Index.

Why people hold it

• DAX Charges 0.20% a year while the typical European single-country ETF costs more than double that. Peers like EWL and EWD sit near 0.50%.
• One index, roughly 40 names, no overlay or hedging gimmick. Its tracking of the DAX Index is among the tightest in its European single-country peer group.
• Trading since 2014, so it brings a decade-plus live record rather than a recent launch, and it is one of the stronger builds in its cohort.

• SPEU Charges 0.07% a year, versus a 0.28% median for its peer group. That is core-index pricing on a single-region fund.
• Total-market index, not a blue-chip list: over a thousand western European stocks spanning large, mid and small caps.
• Launched in 2002, so it has run through multiple European market cycles under State Street.
• Mandate is plain and literal: match the total return of one published European index, with no sector or country tilts bolted on.

Worth knowing

• DAX Focus cuts both ways. Roughly 40 companies in one economy means a handful of German large caps carry the whole portfolio.
• Thinly traded with a modest asset base, so spreads and limit orders matter more here than in a mega-cap Europe fund.
• Distributions land once or twice a year, not quarterly or monthly, so cash flow arrives in lumps.

• SPEU Trading is light next to the giant international funds. Limit orders matter more here, and spreads can widen when volume is thin.
• Europe only. Broad international peers like VEU and IXUS cover Asia and emerging markets too, at 0.04% and 0.07%.
• Holdings trade in euros, pounds and francs, so currency swings against the dollar move your return alongside the stocks.

Full DAX profile⁠

Full SPEU profile⁠