INVESTMENT POTENTIAL OF SECTORAL EXCHANGE-TRADED FUNDS SPDR

The paper work is devoted to the study of the investment potential of sectoral exchange-traded funds SPDR, the advantages of investing in shares of such funds compared to investing in shares of companies or in units of mutual funds are examined, the dynamics of market prices of shares of sectoral stock funds in both favorable and crisis periods on the stock market has been studied, identified the most attractive sector exchange-traded funds for investments. The studies were conducted on the basis of publicly available statistical material on the market prices of the SPDR sector exchange-traded funds for the period from January 2007 to November 2019. Data processing was carried out using statistical methods, a comparison method, a graphical representation of the material. As a result of the studies, it was found that the shares of exchange-traded funds have a number of advantages over ordinary stocks of corporations and over the shares of ordinary mutual funds and are attractive enough for investment purposes. Among the main investment advantages of ETF securities are the following: the purchase of ETF securities means the acquisition of an already diversified portfolio of stocks, which reduces the risk of losses and provides some protection in case of an unforeseen drop in the price of one of the portfolio components; the stocks of exchange-traded funds are sold and bought during the whole trading session; securities of exchange-traded funds can be bought using a brokerage loan and short-selling; there are no fees typical for mutual funds when buying and selling securities, and the fact that an investor buying securities of an exchange-traded fund always knows which shares are in the portfolio of this fund. It was found, that stocks of exchange-traded funds the Select Sector SPDR Fund - Health Care (XLV) and Select Sector SPDR Fund - Technology (XLK) are the most attractive for investment among all others sectoral exchange-traded funds of the SPDR group. At the same time, Select Sector SPDR Fund - Technology (XLK) stocks have the highest growth potential in favorable periods in the stock market and moderate risk in crisis periods; stocks of Select Sector SPDR Fund - Health Care (XLV) have a fairly high growth potential in favorable periods in the stock market and low risk in times of crisis.