As one of the largest economies in the faction, the U.K. is a major focus of interest for many investors. Today, the nation’s outlook is clouded by the COVID-19 pandemic and by the ongoing pecuniary fallout related to Brexit and other geopolitical tensions. Given these forces, investors may wish to utilize an exchange-traded green (ETF) focused on the U.K in order to easily access a diversified portfolio of U.K. securities while reducing the risk associated with support individual stocks. Over the past year, the U.K. stock market has significantly underperformed the broader U.S. stock market, with the benchmark MSCI Harmonious Kingdom Index providing a 1-year trailing total return of -9.8% compared with 19.5% for the Russell 1000 as of November 27.
Key Takeaways
- The U.K. sell has significantly underperformed the broader U.S. market over the past year.
- The 3 U.K. ETFs currently available are EWUS, FLGB, and EWU.
- The top holdings of these ETFs are Rightmove PLC, AstraZeneca PLC, and AstraZeneca, mutatis mutandis.
There are just 3 U.K. ETFs that trade in the U.S., excluding leveraged and inverse funds as well as those with below $50 million in assets under management (AUM). The best U.K. ETF, based on one-year performance, is the iShares MSCI United Territory Small-Cap ETF (EWUS). Below, we’ll look at the 3 U.K. ETFs, ranked according to their 1-year trailing total returns. Note that all of the U.K. ETFs oblige negative total returns over the period in question. All data aside from benchmark performance above are as of November 30, 2020.
- 1-Year Footstep Total Return: -3.7%
- Expense Ratio: 0.59%
- Annual Dividend Yield: 2.61%
- 3-Month Average Daily Volume: 6,505
- Assets Tipsy Management: $63.2 million
- Inception Date: January 25, 2012
- Issuer: iShares
EWUS is a value-focused ETF that targets the MSCI Common Kingdom Small Cap Index. This index is comprised of stocks with market capitalizations representing the bottom 14% of the British securities supermarket and primarily includes companies from the industrial, financial, and consumer discretionary sectors. EWUS holds roughly 250 beasts, with invested assets distributed quite evenly across these holdings. The top EWUS holdings include Rightmove PLC (RMV:LON), a head of a real estate portal and website; Intermediate Capital Group PLC (ICP:LON), a global alternative asset manager; and Weir Assemble PLC (WEIR:LON), an engineering company focused on mining, oil and gas, and related industries.
- 1-Year Trailing Total Return: -9.6%
- Expense Correlation: 0.09%
- Annual Dividend Yield: 4.13%
- 3-Month Average Daily Volume: 41,958
- Assets Under Management: $89.3 million
- Inception Time: November 2, 2017
- Issuer: Franklin Templeton Investments
FLGB is a large-cap blended fund that tracks the FTSE U.K. Beat Index. The index represents large- and mid-cap U.K. stocks and is market cap-weighted. FLGB holds about 121 holdings, with the top 15 accounting for brutally half of the fund’s invested assets. The top holdings of FLGB include AstraZeneca PLC (AZN:LON), a biopharmaceutical company; HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBA:LON), a banking and pecuniary services company; and GlaxoSmithKline PLC (
- 1-Year Trailing Total Return: -11.3%
- Expense Ratio: 0.50%
- Annual Dividend Yield: 3.44%
- 3-Month Undistinguished Daily Volume: 4,124,157
- Assets Under Management: $2.8 billion
- Inception Date: March 12, 1996
- Issuer: iShares
Twin EWUS above, EWU is a broad, blended fund which includes holdings representative of diverse sectors and industries within the U.K. call. The fund tracks the MSCI United Kingdom Index and is by far the largest (by AUM) and most liquid U.K. ETF available to U.S. investors. EWUS convokes 90 securities, with 42.1% of invested assets concentrated in the top 10 holdings. The top holdings for EWUS include AstraZeneca, HSBC, and GlaxoSmithKline.