State Street SPDR Bloomberg Short Term International Treasury Bond ETF

BWZ

Valor de mercado US$ 321 mi

Diversifying into foreign bond markets has been a win for US investors this year, based on a review of a set of ETFs through Aug. 27's close. The Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF, a proxy for government and investment‑grade corporates, is essentially flat, posting a fractional 0.2% rise.

Echoing the strong run in foreign equities in 2025, bond markets ex-US are also having a good year. Using a set of ETFs to track the major international buckets of fixed-income securities shows across-the-board outperformance over a popular US benchmark through Wednesday's close (Dec. 17).

BWZ is similar to BWX in that it covers ex-US Treasuries, typically trading in lower yield markets as their battles with inflation have been successful. While a decent USD hedge, to the extent that economic developments in the US may hurt the USD, the higher expense ratios make the more sensitive bet more effective. We think that there is a rate downside in ex-US markets. The BWX is more interesting to speculate on that.

U.S. Treasury yields remain elevated after a spike following President Trump's tariff announcements earlier this year. With long-term Treasury yields still close to multi-year highs, investors are tempted to pivot away from stocks in favor of the bond market at this time.