The MSCI EAFE® Index is recognized as the preeminent benchmark in the U.S. to measure international equity performance. It comprises 21 MSCI country indices, representing the developed markets outside of North America: Europe, Australasia and the Far East. The fund uses a Representative Sampling strategy to track the Index.
iShares are the exchange traded funds managed by Barclays Global Fund Advisors, a subsidiary of Barclays Global Fund Investors, N.A., the largest manager of indexed products in the world which manages more than $770 billion in assets for institutions and individual investors across the globe. The provider of the index is MSCI, a leading provider of global indices and benchmark related products and services to investors worldwide.
"Together with our partner Barclays Global Investors, we have now brought 66 iShares to the marketplace. The addition of this latest product based on the MSCI EAFE Index Fund, provides investors with a great opportunity to gain broad international exposure in a single product," said Salvatore F. Sodano, Amex chairman and CEO. "It's a pleasure to continue working with Barclay's to bring new and innovative products to market."
"The iShares MSCI EAFE Fund may represent best the simplicity and value of iShares exchange traded funds," said Lee Kranefuss, CEO of Barclays Global Investors' Individual Investor Business. "The fund provides a cost-effective, tax efficient way for investors to gain exposure in developed markets outside of North America in a single transaction. Investors also gain added flexibility and ease in implementing international asset allocation strategies using this broad international fund and the other 21 iShares MSCI Funds that trade on the Amex," he added.
The Amex pioneered the concept of ETFs in 1993 with the introduction of trading in SPDRs® -- Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts®, an exchange-traded unit investment trust based on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index®. There are now 107 ETF products trading on the Amex, with assets currently totaling more than $80 billion. Each year since 1993, both total assets and trading volume of Amex-listed ETFs have doubled.
