The CurrencyShares British Pound Sterling Trust (NYSE:FXB) outperformed all other non-leveraged, non-inverse exchange traded products in the U.S. today on a dollar gain basis, producing a $2.04 (+1.72%) one-day return and outperforming the wider markets by a total of 2.07 percentage points.
Behind The Gains
As just mentioned, FXB closed today at $120.96 per share, up $2.04 (+1.72%). Putting this move in context, the S&P 500 index — largely considered the most popular and useful benchmark for equity performance — closed down $-0.80 (-0.35%) on the day.
FXB’s trading volume today was a total of 168,192 shares, which was an increase of 48% versus its average daily trading volume of 113,790. Rising trading volume generally an indicator of increased demand for a particular security, and is typically associated with a specific news event or trend that draws investors into or out of specific asset classes, or sectors or subsectors within those classes.
Demand for FXB was driven today by the British Prime Minister’s promise that the Brexit will be taken to a parliamentary vote. This caused the pound to surge versus the euro and U.S. dollar, hence the big gains for FXB on the day.
Including any dividends as well as today’s gains, FXB has now returned a total of 0.58% year-to-date, versus a 1.22% gain in the S&P 500 during the same timeframe.
A Look Under The Hood
CurrencyShares British Pound Sterling Trust is a Currency-focused product issued by Rydex Investments. Its expense ratio of 0.40% makes it the #1 cheapest ETF among 25 total funds in the Currency ETFs category.
FXB currently boasts $301.40M in assets under management (AUM), placing it #2 of 25 ETFs in its category, and #552 of 1920 total ETFs in the U.S. exchange traded universe.
The investment objective of the Guggenheim CurrencyShares British Pound Sterling Trust ETF seeks to track the price of the British Pound Sterling.
FXB SMART Grade
FXB currently has an ETF Daily News SMART Grade of C (Neutral), and is ranked #17 of 25 funds in the Currency ETFs category.
For more information about this ETF, including full ratings, news, data, and more, please visit FXB’s ticker page.