T. Rowe Price tapped into the market zeitgeist today, rolling out a pair of ETFs that look beyond the U.S. equity market. The T. Rowe Price Global Equity ETF (TGLB) and the T. Rowe Price Equity Research ETF (TIER) are both actively managed and fully transparent. The two funds list on the NYSE Arca.
TGLB has an expense ratio of 0.46%, while TIER charges 0.38%, which are both competitively priced in their respective categories.
Economic and market uncertainty around the U.S. has caused many domestic investors to consider international investments more seriously. Although non-U.S. markets have trailed domestic equity performance for at least the past decade, they have outperformed the U.S. by a sizeable margin this year. TGLB and TIER offer ways to access those markets, with the former incorporating foreign stocks into its coverage alongside U.S. equities. Meanwhile, the latter seeks to offer diversified exposure to specifically non-U.S. stocks.
“With the addition of TIER and TGLB, we continue to grow our ETF book thoughtfully, this time delivering increased access to international investing options in the ETF wrapper. Leveraging the firm’s sophisticated global equities research capabilities, these funds provide investors with the opportunity to diversify their portfolios while taking advantage of the benefits of T. Rowe Price active management and the ETF format,” said Tim Coyne, T. Rowe Price’s global head of exchange-traded funds.
TGLB invests in equities primarily across developed markets, including the U.S. At launch, its three largest holdings were U.S.-listed stocks: Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) at more than 5%, Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) at 4.5% and Meta Platforms Inc. (META) at 4.3%. According to T. Rowe Price, the fund aims for a concentrated, high-conviction portfolio and will generally have 45-60 holdings.
Peter Bates is the fund’s portfolio manager. Bates is a T. Rowe Price veteran who has spent more than two decades at the firm and also manages its Global Select Equity Strategy.
Meanwhile, TIER excludes the U.S. and invests across both developed and emerging markets. It also takes a much broader approach, having launched with more than 350 stocks. T. Rowe Price noted that the research-driven portfolio aims to maintain a portfolio that reflects the characteristics of the MSCI ACWI ex USA Index in terms of country and industry exposures, and can hold up to 500 mid- and large-cap stocks. Its largest holding at launch was the iShares MSCI India ETF (INDA ) at 2.5% of the portfolio, followed by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM) at 2.2% and Tencent Holdings Ltd. (TCEHY) at 2.1%.
TIER is co-managed by six T. Rowe Price managers who cover different regions, leveraging their in-house team of approximately 40 research analysts to make investment decisions.
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