Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts

SPDRs are shares of a family of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) traded in the United States and managed by State Street Global Advisors (SSgA). Informally, they are also known as Spyders or Spiders.

The name is an acronym for the first member of the family, the Standard & Poor's Depository Receipts (amex2|SPY), the biggest ETF in the U.S., which is designed to track the S&P 500 stock market index.

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 share, the DIAMOND (amex2|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.cite news|url=http://www.thestreet.com/funds/etf/10331299.html|title=Spyders widen web|date=2007-01-08|publisher=TheStreet.com] At the end of 2006, the total portfolio that became known as SPDRs had $102 billion of assets under management.

PY – the S&P 500 ETF

Standard & Poor's Depository Receipts (amex2|SPY) were launched by Boston fund manager SSgA in 1992–1993 as the first exchange-traded fund shares still traded in the United States (preceded by the short-lived Index Participation Shares that launched in 1989.) [ [http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB117099466838903386.html John C. Bogle, 'Value' Strategies] , "Wall Street Journal" (Feb. 9, 2007).] [ [http://www.tiaa-crefinstitute.org/research/articles/docs/040001a.pdf Wilfred Dellva, Exchange-Traded Funds Not for Everyone] , "Journal of Financial Planning" (Apr. 2001).] [cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/10/obituaries/10most.html|author=Jennifer Bayot|title= Nathan Most Is Dead at 90; Investment Fund Innovator|publisher=New York Times|date=2004-12-10|accessdate=2008-04-23] Devised by American Stock Exchange executive Nathan Most, the fund first traded on that market, but has since been listed elsewhere, including the New York Stock Exchange (Nyse2|SPY). According to web glossary InvestorWords.com:

One SPDR unit is valued at approximately 1/10th of the value of the S&P 500. Dividends are distributed quarterly, and are based on the accumulated stock dividends held in trust, less any expenses of the trust. [cite web|url=http://www.investorwords.com/4632/SPDR.html|title=SPDR|publisher=InvestorWords.com, WebFinance, Inc.|accessdate=2008-04-23 ]

With a market capitalization of $77 billion as of April 2008, it is the largest exchange-traded fund. [cite web|url=http://www.amex.com/?href=/equities/listCmp/EqLCDetQuote.jsp?Product_Symbol=SPY|title=SPY Fundamentals|publisher=American Stock Exchange|date=2008-04-23|accessdate=2008-04-23]

The sponsor is PDR Services LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of American Stock Exchange LLC.

Other funds

Mid-Cap SPDRs (amex2|MDY) were launched by the Bank of New York in 1995 to track Standard & Poor's S&P MidCap 400 index of middle-market equity shares.cite book
last = Gastineau
first = Gary
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = The Exchange-Traded Funds Manual
publisher = John Wiley and Sons
date = 2002
location =
pages = 35
url = http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=CIYoyIrP6cIC&pg=PA35&vq=DIAMONDS&dq=nathan+most&source=gbs_search_s&sig=A21ufSMuOmdexYilIbqVVZs1t4o
accessdate= 2008-04-24
doi =
id =
isbn = 0471220922 ] [cite web|url=http://www.amex.com/MDY/aboutMDY.html|title=About MidCap Spiders|publisher=American Stock Exchange|accessdate=2008-04-24]

DIAMONDS (amex2|DIA) were developed, like the original SPDR, by SSgA in cooperation with the American Stock Exchange. 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. [Ferri, Richard A. (2008). "The ETF Book", John Wiley and Sons, 191 ISBN 0470130636.] cite book
last = Gastineau
first = Gary
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = The Exchange-Traded Funds Manual
publisher = John Wiley and Sons
date = 2002
location =
pages = 37
url = http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=CIYoyIrP6cIC&pg=PA37&vq=DIAMONDS&dq=nathan+most&source=gbs_search_s&sig=qeWoIlxh7lAPFFxL9FoJnFhFxyA
accessdate= 2008-04-24
doi =
id =
isbn = 0471220922 ] Because the S&P 500 contains only 9 companies from the telecommincations services sector, those companies are a part of the information technology SPDR amex2|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 manages ETFs that are sold on exchanges outside the United States. These are not known as SPDRs.

References

ee also

*List of exchange-traded funds
*Collective investment scheme

External links

*Stock market quotes:
** Amex2|SPY
** Nyse2|SPY
* [http://www.ssgafunds.com/etf/index.jsp Official SPDR ETFs website] – State Street Global Advisors
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/10/obituaries/10most.html Obituary – Nathan Most] – New York Times, 2004