iShares believes the eurozone crisis is no cause for investors to go without instruments to access sovereign debt in specific European countries, having launched eight single-country exchange-traded bond funds.
Several products target northern European states, such as Germany, Austria and Finland, which are regarded as creditworthy. But there is also an Italian bond ETF and a Spanish bond ETF for investors who want to make a different kind of bet. Spanish ten-year government bonds have been in the news lately for peaking at above 6%, the rate at which government borrowing is generally considered unsustainable.
iShares said the ETFs can be used to overweight or underweight bonds in fixed income portfolios on a country basis.
“This new series of single country eurozone debt exposures will allow [investors] to invest and express their views in a more precise fashion,” said Axel Lomholt, head of iShares product development in Europe.
©2012 funds europe
