FUND DESCRIPTION: SPDR MSCI AWCI ex-US ETF is an exchange-traded index fund or Index ETF which is a separate investment portfolio of the SPDR Index Shares Fund, an investment management company. INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE: The SPDR MSCI AWCI ex-US ETF seeks to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the total return performance of the MSCI ACWI ex USA Index. INDEX DESCRIPTION: The MSCI ACWI ex USA Index is a float-adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to measure the combined equity market performance of developed and emerging market countries excluding the United States. The Index’s composition is reviewed quarterly. All listed equity securities and listed securities that exhibit characteristics of equity securities, except mutual funds, ETFs, equity derivatives, limited partnerships and most investment trusts, are eligible for inclusion. Countries covered in the Index have historically included, among others, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and the United Kingdom. As of December 31, 2009, the Index was comprised of 1,810 securities. FUND STRATEGY: Under normal market conditions, the Fund generally invests substantially all, but at least 90%, of its total assets in the securities comprising the Index. In addition, the Fund may invest in securities that are not included in the Index, futures, options, swap contracts and other derivatives, cash and cash equivalents or money market instruments, such as repurchase agreements and money market funds. The Fund uses a passive management, indexing investment approach, and sampling methodology designed to track the total return performance of the Index. The Fund does not intend to purchase all of the securities in the Index, but rather will utilize a sampling methodology in seeking the Fund's objective by purchasing a subset of the securities in the Index in an effort to hold a portfolio of securities with generally the same risk and return characteristics of the Index. The quantity of holdings in the Fund will be based on a number of factors, including asset size of the Fund. The Fund reserves the right to hold as many securities as it believes necessary to achieve the Fund's investment objective. FUND MANAGEMENT: SSgA FM serves as the investment adviser to the Fund, subject to the supervision of the Board, is responsible for the investment management of the Fund.
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