Movements in SPY seem to be very weakly tracked in eMaxi slim S&P500

[MajesticSoup]

I’ve suspected that I’m not getting the full picture of what’s going on, because there has been a pattern where even if SPY has big movements, the fund that I buy into doesn’t seem to track that, even if I account for the change in USD JPY. First some background:

Fund: eMaxi slim s&p500
MER: 0.9%

Purchased on: 7/8
Price “locked in” on: 7/11
SPY on 7/11: 385 USD
EMaxi SPY on 7/11: 18,667 JPY
Proof of above:

SPY today: 392 USD
EMaxi SPY today: 18,580 JPY
Proof of above:

USD JPY 7/11: 137.42
USD JPY today: 138.15
JPY USD history

With the above numbers, SPY moved 1.7% up, JPY got about 0.6% weaker (slight overestimate), so the overall movement should have been +1%. However, SPY on the eMaxi side is still lower than when I bought in, despite SPY being up quite a bit and JPY USD not moving *that* much. Did I miss something? Posting in retirejapan for dummies just in case I am a dummy

[adamu]

Not sure, but the eMaxis fund is not tracking the SPY ETF, it's tracking the S&P 500 index (including dividends), converted to yen by MUFJ.

Although, to be honest, I wouldn't be concerned about the difference over a few days. Compare after 6-12 months.

Shintaro Money: https://shintaro-money.com/emaxisslim-sp500/#i-9

[MajesticSoup]

Yeah I’m just being nit picky but if I really am losing 1-2% on every single investment then that could really add up. Maybe i need to take off my tin foil hat

> Not sure, but the eMaxis fund is not tracking the SPY ETF, it's tracking the S&P 500 index (including dividends), converted to yen by MUFJ.

That’s fair, maybe I should try and rerun my numbers using the index, but I feel as though the SPY etf is close enough to the index that the math still shows a little bit of strangeness to it

[TokyoBoglehead]

Double Post

[TokyoBoglehead]

Yeah I’m just being nit picky but if I really am losing 1-2% on every single investment then that could really add up. Maybe i need to take off my tin foil hat

> Not sure, but the eMaxis fund is not tracking the SPY ETF, it's tracking the S&P 500 index (including dividends), converted to yen by MUFJ.

That’s fair, maybe I should try and rerun my numbers using the index, but I feel as though the SPY etf is close enough to the index that the math still shows a little bit of strangeness to it

You are not comparing the same things. Here, read through this detailed analysis. https://shintaro-money.com/emaxisslim-sp500/

[MajesticSoup]

Thank you for the links guys. I gave it a read and it seems that it's supposed to track the SPX very closely. Still a little uncertain because SPX is a lot higher today than it was on Jul 11.

Here's my updated napkin math:

JUL 11 SPX: 3854.43
TODAY SPX: 3936.69
% CHANGE: 2.13%

EMaxi slim S&P on 7/11: 18,667 JPY
EMaxi slim S&P on 7/19: 18,580 JPY
% CHANGE: -0.465%

Now let's look over how the yen moved to account for it:
137.42 => 138.15 (roughly 0.05% decrease in purchasing power)

We can see from here that I should have been up about:
TOTAL CHANGE - PURCHASING POWER LOST - MER
2.13% - 0.05% - 0.09%
= 2%

But instead, the net change for me is actually negative.

Don't get me wrong, I don't care at all that I'm down, I care that as someone who is throwing in quite a bit of money into this fund, I am unable to properly account for the disparity.

[captainspoke]

That 0.05% might be wrong...?

The other thing I'd wonder about is day-to-day lag, and how things get updated--the fund values, the index, currencies and how fund values are represented using those, etc. Monthly or longer time periods and that kind of thing would be less important.

[TokyoBoglehead]

Thank you for the links guys. I gave it a read and it seems that it's supposed to track the SPX very closely. Still a little uncertain because SPX is a lot higher today than it was on Jul 11.

Here's my updated napkin math:

JUL 11 SPX: 3854.43
TODAY SPX: 3936.69
% CHANGE: 2.13%

EMaxi slim S&P on 7/11: 18,667 JPY
EMaxi slim S&P on 7/19: 18,580 JPY
% CHANGE: -0.465%

Now let's look over how the yen moved to account for it:
137.42 => 138.15 (roughly 0.05% decrease in purchasing power)

We can see from here that I should have been up about:
TOTAL CHANGE - PURCHASING POWER LOST - MER
2.13% - 0.05% - 0.09%
= 2%

But instead, the net change for me is actually negative.

Don't get me wrong, I don't care at all that I'm down, I care that as someone who is throwing in quite a bit of money into this fund, I am unable to properly account for the disparity.

It WILL NOT reflect yesterdays movements until 5pm today. (Mutual funds settle at the end of trading day), Exchanges update prices on different schedules.

Expect posted mutual fund prices to have a lag depending on holidays/trading hours. This lag can easily be 24-72 hours.

If you want accurate prices find an Index tracker, not a fund tracker. I think there are some out there.

Daily movement is not a worry for Mutual funds, that is what ETFs are for.

[TBS]

Posts similar this appear on here quite frequently. It's as others have said, you've compared the S&P500 Index and eMAXIS Slim with slightly different effective dates.

S&P500 had a good day yesterday (2.76% rise), which isn't yet reflected in the eMAXIS Slim price. This explains most of the difference in your calculations. Barring any big movement in the FX rate today, tonight's eMAXIS Slim price will show a similar jump to the S&P500 index jump yesterday.

No need for your tinfoil hat. Over the long term eMAXIS Slim tracks the yen-based S&P500 Total Returns Index beautifully:

[TokyoBoglehead]

Posts similar this appear on here quite frequently. It's as others have said, you've compared the S&P500 Index and eMAXIS Slim with slightly different effective dates.

S&P500 had a good day yesterday (2.76% rise), which isn't yet reflected in the eMAXIS Slim price. This explains most of the difference in your calculations. Barring any big movement in the FX rate today, tonight's eMAXIS Slim price will show a similar jump to the S&P500 index jump yesterday.

No need for your tinfoil hat. Over the long term eMAXIS Slim tracks the yen-based S&P500 Total Returns Index beautifully:

S&P500_slim_benchmark.png

In most western markets ETFs>Mutual funds. So many people who started trading in the last decade or so have little to no knowledge of how Mutual funds function.

I was in the same boat. Everyone here did a great job of pointing out why Mutual Funds are a better investment vehicle (In Japan), but the mechanics are still *old fashioned and slow".

This does not matter for the long-term passive investor. And many in the field, feel that it is a plus as we cannot see our portfolios changing by the minute, but only 4/5 times a week at most.