State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), the investment management arm of State Street Corporation, announced that assets in the streetTRACKS Gold Trust have exceeded $6 billion.
Launched in November 2004, GLD is the first US commodity-based exchange-traded security and provides investors with simple, secure and cost- effective access to the gold bullion market. Designed to reduce the barriers to investing in gold, GLD holds physically allocated gold bullion with the objective of reflecting performance of the price of gold bullion less expenses.
GLD represents the fourth of five global gold-backed securities launched under the brand name Exchange Traded Gold. The other securities trade on the London, Johannesburg, and Australian stock exchanges as well as on Euronext in Paris, and all provide investors with simple, secure, and cost-effective access to the global gold market.
SSgA partnered with World Gold Trust Services, a subsidiary of the World Gold Council, to bring GLD to market. On November 18, 2004, GLD completed its first day on the NYSE with almost 6 million shares traded, a record for any derivative, ETF or structured product listed on the NYSE.
“As an innovative method of gaining access to U.S. commodities, streetTRACKS Gold Shares have been a popular choice for investors desiring to diversify their portfolios,” said Jim Ross, co-head of SSgA’s Advisor Strategies unit. “GLD is an excellent and timely complement to SSgA’s existing stable of ETFs.”