Only European Small Cap ETF in U.S. Market for Accessing European Economic Resurgence
Fund Launched in Company's Original Core Equity ETF Suite in June 2006
NEW YORK, Feb. 18, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WisdomTree (Nasdaq:WETF), an exchange-traded fund ("ETF") sponsor and asset manager, today announced the WisdomTree Europe SmallCap Dividend Fund (DFE) recently surpassed $1 billion in assets. DFE is designed to provide exposure to the small-capitalization segment of the European dividend-paying market.
Positioning for a European Recovery with Small-Caps
Since the second half of 2013 and into early 2014, Europe's economy is steadily returning to growth; Moreover, consumers have shown signs of improvement, and the manufacturing surveys are pointing toward expansion.
Luciano Siracusano, WisdomTree Chief Investment Strategist, commented, "This stabilization of the European economy is encouraging and a step toward alleviating a major concern for the global economy. We believe the best way to participate in the European recovery is through the small-capitalization segment of the equity market, as smaller companies are typically more sensitive to the local economy and cyclical sectors of Europe."
There are limited choices available to those interested in targeting exposure to European small-cap companies. In fact, DFE remains the only broad European small-cap ETF in the U.S. market today.1
Building Compelling Track-Record
"While we recognize that past performance is no indicator of future results, we believe that when a fund ranks number one in a particular investment category on a total return basis over the past one year period, it deserves special recognition," said Jeremy Schwartz, WisdomTree Director of Research. "This is particularly true when the fund category is becoming a prime focus for asset flows and investors are re-assessing the role that such a significant investment theme should play in their portfolios."
The WisdomTree Europe SmallCap Dividend Fund (DFE) was ranked the number one fund out of 113 open-ended (OE) mutual funds and ETFs in Morningstar's Europe Stock peer group during the 2013 year on a total return basis.2
Supporting DFE with Targeted Research
Further research and insight from our experts can be found on the WisdomTree Blog under the "Europe Small Caps" theme:
- Why European Small Caps Performed Strongly in 2013: http://bit.ly/1dTclJv
- European Small Caps Separate from the Pack: http://bit.ly/1fFIiba
- Deep Capacity Can Be a Benefit to Index-Based Investing: http://bit.ly/1d18VUQ
- European Small Caps from a Capital Markets Perspective: http://bit.ly/1mDOa7k
Along with DFE, WisdomTree offers two other Europe-specific ETFs in its product suite:
- The WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity Fund (HEDJ): exposure to European exporters, while hedging out the fluctuations in the euro.
- The WisdomTree Euro Debt Fund (EU): exposure to the debt of highly rated Euro-Zone sovereign and supranational issuers, as well as the movements in the euro relative to the U.S. dollar.
Dividends are not guaranteed and a company's future abilities to pay dividends may be limited. A company currently paying dividends may cease paying dividends at any time.
Investors should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the Funds before investing. To obtain a prospectus containing this and other important information, call 866-909-9473 or visit wisdomtree.com. Read the prospectus carefully before investing.
There are risks associated with investing, including possible loss of principal. Foreign investing involves special risks, such as risk of loss from currency fluctuation or political or economic uncertainty. Funds focusing their investments on certain sectors and/or smaller companies increase their vulnerability to any single economic or regulatory development. This may result in greater share price volatility. Investments in currency involve additional special risks, such as credit risk and interest rate fluctuations. Derivative investments can be volatile and these investments may be less liquid than other securities, and more sensitive to the effect of varied economic conditions. As this Fund can have a high concentration in some issuers, the Fund can be adversely impacted by changes affecting those issuers.
Fixed income investments are subject to interest rate risk; their value will normally decline as interest rates rise. In addition when interest rates fall income may decline. Fixed income investments are also subject to credit risk, the risk that the issuer of a bond will fail to pay interest and principal in a timely manner, or that negative perceptions of the issuer's ability to make such payments will cause the price of that bond to decline. Unlike typical exchange-traded funds, there is no index that the Fund attempts to track or replicate. Thus, the ability of the Fund to achieve its objective will depend on the effectiveness of the portfolio manager. Due to the investment strategy of certain Funds they may make higher capital gain distributions than other ETFs. Please read the Fund's prospectus for specific details regarding the Fund's risk profile.
The WisdomTree Europe SmallCap Dividend Fund (DFE) was ranked the number two fund out of 104, the number five fund out of 89, and the number 17 fund out of 82 open-ended (OE) mutual funds and ETFs in Morningstar's Europe Stock peer group for the three, five, and since inception (07/01/2006) periods, respectively, on a total return basis.
WisdomTree Funds are distributed by ALPS Distributors, Inc.
Luciano Siracusano and Jeremy Schwartz are registered representatives of ALPS Distributors, Inc.
WIS006403 (2/2015)
1 Source: ETF Database.
2 Universe: Morningstar Europe Stock category of ETFs and open-ended mutual funds based on the performance of each eligible competitor within this category with full performance from 12/31/2012 to 12/31/2013.
About WisdomTree
WisdomTree® is a New York-based exchange-traded fund ("ETF") sponsor and asset manager. WisdomTree currently offers 62 ETFs across Equities, Fixed Income, Currency Income and Alternatives asset classes. WisdomTree also licenses its indexes to third parties for proprietary products and promotes the use of WisdomTree ETFs in 401(k) plans. WisdomTree currently has approximately $33.3 billion in ETF assets under management. For more information, please visit www.wisdomtree.com or follow us on Twitter @WisdomTreeETFs.
WisdomTree is the marketing name for WisdomTree Investments, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary WisdomTree Asset Management, Inc. WisdomTree Asset Management, Inc. is a registered investment advisor and is the investment advisor to the WisdomTree Trust and the WisdomTree ETFs. The WisdomTree Trust is a registered open-end investment company. Each WisdomTree ETF is a series of the WisdomTree Trust.