FEZ vs SPEU

FEZAState Street SPDR EURO STOXX 50 ETF

SPEUAState Street SPDR Portfolio Europe ETF

In short

FEZ Fifty eurozone blue chips, one ticker, running since 2002. FEZ is the long-standing US-listed route into the euro area's biggest companies, and it charges well below the typical index fund in its peer group.

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

FEZ The fund seeks to deliver total returns that generally correspond to the EURO STOXX 50 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

• FEZ Charges 0.29% a year against a 0.45% median for index-tracking funds in its cohort.
• Trading since 2002 and among the more actively traded names in its group, so the cost of getting in and out tends to be modest on top of the fee.
• Simple job, plainly stated: match the EURO STOXX 50 Index before fees. About 50 holdings, quarterly distributions, no tilts or overlays bolted on.
• A $1B-$5B fund from SPDR with a clean structural record and no red flags on the wrapper, which is rare staying power for a single-region equity product.

• 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

• FEZ About 50 names in one currency bloc. That concentration puts it at the more volatile end of its peer group, and a few European mega-caps drive a lot of the result.
• It's a regional slice, not a whole-market holding. Broad global trackers such as VT run 0.06% and reach far wider.
• Returns arrive through euro-area shares, so the euro-dollar exchange rate is part of the ride for a US investor. Nothing in the mandate hedges it away.

• 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 FEZ profile⁠

Full SPEU profile⁠