Apple

NVIDIA

Microsoft

Amazon

Tesla

Alphabet

Broadcom

JPMorgan Chase & Co

iShares MSCI World ETF

URTH tracks a market-cap-weighted index of stocks that cover 85% of the developed world's market capitalization.

iShares MSCI World ETF (URTH) tracks the MSCI World Index, owning about 1,400 developed market equities with a 0.24% expense ratio. URTH benefits from high exposure to U.S. and technology stocks, which have strong competitive advantages and growth potential. Improving global economic outlook and rising PMI indicate better earnings growth for URTH in 2025 and 2026.

URTH: Improving Macroeconomic Environment Will Act As Tailwind

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The French election: I discuss the investment implications of three possible scenarios: a far-right majority, a far-left majority, and a temporary administrative solution. We received two important data points that could bring us closer to the long-awaited start of Federal Reserve rate cuts.

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iShares MSCI World ETF captures a strong mix of U.S. and developed market holdings, but the fund has a relatively high expense ratio. There are multiple reasons to believe that international equities may outperform the U.S. market over the next decade, including current valuations, earnings, and macro-level risk factors. Investors can achieve similar international diversification to URTH with lower fees by combining U.S. total market and developed market funds from Vanguard or Schwab.

URTH: There Are More Affordable Ways To Achieve International Diversification

The iShares MSCI World ETF is a global equity fund with AUM of $3.13 billion recently, in spite of slightly negative net fund flows over the past year. URTH has a heavy weight in favor of the United States (70.88% of the fund) and key sector exposures in Technology, Financial Services, and Healthcare. Despite underperforming the S&P 500 in the past, URTH is nevertheless presently undervalued per my calculations, which may also indicate that broader equity markets are undervalued.

URTH: Global Equities Appear Undervalued In February 2024

iShares MSCI World ETF is heavily weighted towards US stocks, despite being a global fund. Top holdings include Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, and Alphabet. The ETF is predominantly invested in Information Technology, followed by Financials and Health Care sectors.

URTH: Too Much U.S.

Explore the limitations of the MSCI World Index and ETFs like URTH in an era of market concentration and trillion-dollar valuations, prompting a need for general reevaluation. Understand how prioritizing profitability over market capitalization can offer a more resilient and risk-mitigated approach, with a focus on earning power and adaptability. Discover practical steps for constructing a balanced portfolio that combines global earning power and safe bonds, allowing flexibility during crises while aiming for long-term stability.

Building True Resilience: Beyond URTH, A Pragmatic Approach

The iShares MSCI World ETF provides exposure to developed markets, not the entire world, and its share price has been trending higher since October last year. The ETF's performance is largely correlated to the U.S. market due to its significant U.S. asset base, with tech stocks like Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia driving growth. Despite a Goldilocks-style growth, there are risks to developed markets from tight monetary policies and U.S-China decoupling, and a correction in the ETF's value appears imminent.

URTH: Developed Markets Are At The Goldilocks Interlude

iShares MSCI World ETF invests in stocks internationally within a variety of sectors. This ETF recently enhanced its United States-based holdings for their historical performance, but rate hikes could exploit this.

URTH: Rising Yields And Declining Profit Margins Could Put This ETF In Danger

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Altria

NIKE

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Unilever

Visa

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Verizon

ETFs offer a wide range of advantages over selecting stocks individually. These advantages include a broader risk diversification than when investing in individual stocks.

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TotalEnergies SE

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Exxon Mobil

The long-term success of your investment portfolio is determined by its composition. Thereby, the selection of individual stocks has various advantages for you as an investor when compared to only investing in ETFs.

How To Build A Portfolio That Combines An Attractive Dividend Yield With Dividend Growth

The high weighting of overvalued U.S. stocks, the strong likelihood of profit margin mean reversion, and the weak growth outlook, suggest the URTH is unlikely to keep pace with inflation. The ETF has exposure to international developed markets yet the outperformance of U.S. stocks over the past decade has raised the U.S.' weighting in the ETF to 68%.

URTH: Expect Negative Long-Term Real Returns On Global Stocks

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Two ETFs, Nasdaq-100 and world, traded with an outsized volume.

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Investing in exchange-traded funds carries several risks, some of which are less obvious than others. In any case, investing in ETFs is not a foolproof way to get rich. Using iShares' MSCI World ETF URTH as an example, I will highlight important aspects that should be considered before investing in ETFs.

URTH By Itself Is Riskier Than You Might Think - 7 Aspects Worth Considering

URTH is supposed to be the broadest ETF out there but it suffers from ultimately being dominated by US exposures and the US geography. As such, its multiple is high considering we're coming into a recession and that supply chains have to some extent been permanently damaged.

URTH Really Isn't Much Better Than The S&P

The discount of Europe from the US is the highest it's been in a while. With URTH you're mostly just investing in the US, and the US big cap stocks no less.

URTH Is Mostly Just The U.S., Make Narrower Bets

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The Federal Reserve said Wednesday it would raise interest rates in addition to penciling in further rate increases this year to combat inflation, which has continued to swell and has reached four-decade highs.  Fed officials have decided to raise the benchmark federal-funds rate by a quarter percentage point to a range between 0.25% and 0.5% [.

As Interest Rates Rise, Turn to Dividend ETFs

URTH is an effective global equity diversifier; the fund invests across the world in "Developed Markets" (including the United States). Based on current prices, URTH likely offers more upside. A protracted bear market, or significant further decline, is unlikely given that valuations are not particularly expensive in aggregate.

URTH: Global Stocks Are Likely To Power Higher

As investors are continuing to pivot away from growth and toward value investments, equity income is an important area to consider. “For conservative, long term equity investors, there's a lot to be said for looking at equity income funds.

Long-Term Investors Should Look to Equity Income

URTH is a global equity fund that offers investors the ability to invest in a basket of developed markets, not just the United States.

URTH: Global Stocks Should Keep Rising

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URTH: Further Upside Available

URTH is a fund that enables U.S. investors to hold a broader, more diversified and global equity portfolio, all in one managed ETF. Since U.S. equities look expensive at present, global diversification looks more attractive than in previous times.

URTH: A Safer Alternative To Holding SPY Or VOO

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Developed-market (DM) household savings recorded a significant gain last year, with an increase equivalent to 10% of combined gross domestic product (GDP). This build-up is likely to bolster consumption as restrictions on economic and social activity are removed and pent-up demand unlocked.

Will Household Savings Provide An Upside Growth Surprise?

The benchmark that is at the crux of URTH is the eponymous index provided by MSCI. With a NAV of $1.14 billion, URTH is exceedingly tech-heavy. The prominent FAANGM cohort occupies the leading positions among the fund's holdings.

URTH: Questionable Diversification Is A Flaw

Following a reader request, I'm writing an article on something I usually don't cover - indexes and the continuous, frequent investments in indexes as an alternative to an international portfolio.

News for iShares MSCI World ETF ETF (URTH)