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SPDR ® STOXX ® Europe 50 ETF    FEU

(NYSE Ticker)

SUMMARY PROSPECTUS - JANUARY 31, 2014

Before you invest in the SPDR STOXX Europe 50 ETF (the “Fund”), you may want to review the Fund’s prospectus and statement of additional information, which contain more information about the Fund and the risks of investing in the Fund. The Fund’s prospectus and statement of additional information dated January 31, 2014, are incorporated by reference into this summary prospectus. You can find the Fund’s prospectus and statement of additional information, as well as other information about the Fund, online at https://www.spdrs.com/product/fund.seam?ticker=FEU. You may also obtain this information at no charge by calling (866) 787-2257 or by sending an e-mail request to Fund_inquiry@ssga.com.

 

INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE

The SPDR STOXX Europe 50 ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to provide investment results that, before fees and expenses, correspond generally to the total return performance of the STOXX ® Europe 50 Index.

FEES AND EXPENSES OF THE FUND

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund (“Shares”). This table and the example below do not reflect brokerage commissions you may pay on purchases and sales of the Fund’s Shares.

 

ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment):
MANAGEMENT FEES    0.29%    
DISTRIBUTION AND SERVICE (12b-1) FEES    None    
OTHER EXPENSES    0.00%    
TOTAL ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES    0.29%    

EXAMPLE:

This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated, and then sell all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

 

YEAR 1   YEAR 3   YEAR 5   YEAR 10
$30   $93   $163   $368

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER:

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 12% of the average value of its portfolio.

THE FUND’S PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGY

In seeking to track the performance of the STOXX ® Europe 50 Index (the “Index”), the Fund employs a sampling strategy, which means that the Fund is not required to purchase all of the securities represented in the Index. Instead, the Fund may purchase 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. Based on its analysis of these factors, SSgA Funds Management, Inc. (“SSgA FM” or the “Adviser”), the investment adviser to the Fund, may invest the Fund’s assets in a subset of

 

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securities in the Index or may invest the Fund’s assets in substantially all of the securities represented in the Index in approximately the same proportions as the Index.

Under normal market conditions, the Fund generally invests substantially all, but at least 80%, of its total assets in the securities comprising the Index. The Fund will provide shareholders with at least 60 days’ notice prior to any material change in this 80% investment policy. In addition, the Fund may invest in equity securities that are not included in the Index, cash and cash equivalents or money market instruments, such as repurchase agreements and money market funds (including money market funds advised by the Adviser).

The Index is designed to represent the performance of some of the largest companies across all components of the 20 STOXX Europe 600 Supersector Indexes. The STOXX Europe 600 Supersector Indexes are subsets of the STOXX Europe 600 Index and contain 600 of the largest stocks traded on the major exchanges in Europe. The STOXX Europe 600 Index is derived from the STOXX Europe Total Market Index (TMI) and a subset of the STOXX Global 1800 Index. The Index captures approximately 50% of the free-float market capitalization of the STOXX Europe Total Market Index, which in turn covers approximately 95% of the free-float market capitalization of the represented countries. Index composition is reviewed annually and weights are reviewed quarterly. Countries covered in the Index have historically included, among others, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The 50 companies in the Index are selected by first identifying the companies that equal approximately 60% of the free-float market capitalization of each corresponding STOXX Europe Total Market Index Supersector Index. In addition, any stocks that are currently components of the Index are added to the list. From that list, the 40 largest stocks are selected to be components of the Index. In addition, any stocks that are current components of the Index (and ranked 41-60 on the list) are included as components. If there are still less than 50 component stocks, the applicable number of the largest remaining stocks on the list ranked 41 or higher are included as components of the Index. As of December 31, 2013, the Index was comprised of 57 securities.

The Index is sponsored by STOXX (the “Index Provider”), which is not affiliated with the Fund or the Adviser. The Index Provider determines the composition of the Index, relative weightings of the securities in the Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Index.

PRINCIPAL RISKS OF INVESTING IN THE FUND

As with all investments, there are certain risks of investing in the Fund, and you could lose money on an investment in the Fund.

PASSIVE STRATEGY/INDEX RISK:   The Fund is managed with a passive investment strategy, attempting to track the performance of an unmanaged index of securities. This differs from an actively managed fund, which typically seeks to outperform a benchmark index. As a result, the Fund may hold constituent securities of the Index regardless of the current or projected performance of a specific security or a particular industry or market sector. Maintaining investments in securities regardless of market conditions or the performance of individual securities could cause the Fund’s return to be lower than if the Fund employed an active strategy.

INDEX TRACKING RISK:   While the Adviser seeks to track the performance of the Index as closely as possible ( i.e., achieve a high degree of correlation with the Index), the Fund’s return may not match or achieve a high degree of correlation with the return of the Index due to operating expenses, transaction costs, cash flows, regulatory requirements and operational inefficiencies. For example, the Adviser anticipates that it may take several business days for additions and deletions to the Index to be reflected in the portfolio composition of the Fund.

LARGE CAP RISK:   Returns on investments in stocks of large companies could trail the returns on investments in stocks of smaller and mid-sized companies.

EQUITY INVESTING RISK:   An investment in the Fund involves risks similar to those of investing in any fund of equity securities, such as market fluctuations, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in stock prices.

FOREIGN INVESTMENT RISK:   Returns on investments in foreign securities could be more volatile than, or trail the returns on, investments in U.S. securities. Investments in securities issued by entities based outside the U.S. pose distinct risks since political and economic events unique to a country or region will affect those markets and their issuers. Further, such entities and/or their securities may also be affected by currency controls; different accounting,

 

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auditing, financial reporting, and legal standards and practices; different practices for clearing and settling trades; expropriation; changes in tax policy; greater market volatility; differing securities market structures; higher transaction costs; and various administrative difficulties, such as delays in clearing and settling portfolio transactions or in receiving payment of dividends. Securities traded on foreign markets may be less liquid (harder to sell) than securities traded domestically. In addition, the value of the currency of the country in which the Fund has invested could decline relative to the value of the U.S. dollar, which may affect the value of the investment to U.S. investors. These risks may be heightened in connection with investments in developing or emerging countries.

GEOGRAPHIC RISK:   Funds that are less diversified across countries or geographic regions are generally riskier than more geographically diversified funds. For example, a Fund that focuses on a single country (e.g., China or Japan), or a specific region (e.g., the Middle East or African countries) is more exposed to that country’s or region’s economic cycles, currency exchange rates, stock market valuations and political risks compared with a more geographically diversified fund. The economies and financial markets of certain regions, such as Latin America, Asia or Eastern Europe, can be interdependent and may decline all at the same time.

EUROPE:   Developed and emerging market countries in Europe will be significantly affected by the fiscal and monetary controls of the European Monetary Union. Changes in regulations on trade, decreasing imports or exports, changes in the exchange rate of the euro and recessions among European countries may have a significant adverse effect on the economies of other European countries including those of Eastern Europe. The markets in Eastern Europe remain relatively undeveloped and can be particularly sensitive to political and economic developments. The European financial markets have recently experienced volatility and adverse trends due to concerns about rising government debt levels of certain European countries, each of which may require external assistance to meet its obligations and run the risk of default on its debt, possible bail-out by the rest of the European Union (“EU”) or debt restructuring. Assistance given to an EU member state may be dependent on a country’s implementation of reforms in order to curb the risk of default on its debt, and a failure to implement these reforms or increase revenues could result in a deep economic downturn. These events have adversely affected the exchange rate of the euro and therefore may adversely affect the Fund and its investments.

NON-DIVERSIFICATION RISK:   The Fund is non-diversified and may invest a larger percentage of its assets in securities of a few issuers or a single issuer than that of a diversified fund. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be disproportionately impacted by the performance of relatively few securities.

FUND PERFORMANCE

The following bar chart and table provide an indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year to year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual returns for certain time periods compare with the average annual returns of the Index. The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available online at http://www.spdrs.com .     

ANNUAL TOTAL RETURN  (years ended 12/31)

 

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Highest Quarterly Return: 24.29% (Q2 2009)

Lowest Quarterly Return: -21.43% (Q3 2011)

 

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AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS  (for periods ending 12/31/13)

The after-tax returns presented in the table below are calculated using highest historical individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Your actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from those shown below. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Shares of the Fund through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts. The returns after taxes can exceed the return before taxes due to the application of foreign tax credits and/or an assumed tax benefit for a shareholder from realizing a capital loss on a sale of Fund Shares.

 

       ONE YEAR    FIVE YEARS    TEN YEARS
RETURN BEFORE TAXES    22.38%    10.58%    5.15%
RETURN AFTER TAXES ON DISTRIBUTIONS    21.22%    9.95%    4.60%
RETURN AFTER TAXES ON DISTRIBUTIONS AND SALE OF FUND SHARES    13.17%    8.55%    4.30%

STOXX EUROPE 50 INDEX

(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)

   22.39%    10.57%    5.20%

PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT

INVESTMENT ADVISER

SSgA FM serves as the investment adviser to the Fund.

PORTFOLIO MANAGERS

The professionals primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund are Mike Feehily and John Tucker.

MIKE FEEHILY, CFA , is a Senior Managing Director of the Adviser. He joined the Adviser in 1997, moved to State Street Global Markets LLC in 2006 and rejoined the Adviser in 2010.

JOHN TUCKER, CFA , is a Senior Managing Director of the Adviser. He joined the Adviser in 1988.

PURCHASE AND SALE INFORMATION

The Fund will issue (or redeem) Shares to certain institutional investors (typically market makers or other broker-dealers) only in large blocks of 50,000 Shares known as “Creation Units.” Creation Unit transactions are typically conducted in exchange for the deposit or delivery of in-kind securities and/or cash constituting a substantial replication, or a representation, of the securities included in the Fund’s benchmark Index.

Individual Shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold on the NYSE Arca, Inc., other national securities exchanges, electronic crossing networks and other alternative trading systems through your broker-dealer at market prices. Because Fund Shares trade at market prices rather than at net asset value (“NAV”), Shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (premium) or less than NAV (discount).

TAX INFORMATION

The Fund’s distributions are expected to be taxed as ordinary income, qualified dividend income and/or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or individual retirement account.

 

 

FEUSUMPRO

 

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