SPDR® Series Trust
SPDR ICE Preferred Securities ETF
(formerly, SPDR Wells Fargo® Preferred Stock ETF)
(the “Fund”)
Supplement dated September 13, 2021 to the Prospectus and Summary Prospectus,
each dated October 31, 2020, as may be supplemented from time to time
 
1.
Effective immediately, the PRINCIPAL RISKS OF INVESTING IN THE FUND section beginning on page 266 of the Prospectus and page 2 of the Summary Prospectus is updated to: (i) replace the existing Preferred Securities Risk discussion with the corresponding discussion below and (ii) add the Debt Securities Risk discussion below.
Preferred Securities Risk: Generally, Preferred Security holders have no or limited voting rights with respect to the issuing company. In addition, Preferred Securities are generally senior to common stock, but subordinated to bonds and other debt instruments in a company’s capital structure and therefore will be subject to greater credit risk than those debt instruments. In the event an issuer of Preferred Securities experiences economic difficulties, the issuer’s Preferred Securities may lose substantial value due to the increased likelihood of deferred interest or dividend payments and the fact that the Preferred Security may be subordinated to other securities of the same issuer. Further, because many Preferred Securities pay interest or dividends at a fixed rate, their market price can be sensitive to changes in interest rates in a manner similar to bonds — that is, as interest rates rise, the value of the Preferred Securities held by the Fund are likely to decline. In addition, to the extent Preferred Securities allow holders to convert the Preferred Securities into common stock of the issuer, their market price can be sensitive to changes in the value of the issuer’s common stock and, therefore, declining common stock values may also cause the value of the Fund’s investments to decline. Preferred securities often have call features which allow the issuer to redeem the security at its discretion. The redemption of a Preferred Security having a higher than average yield may cause a decrease in the Fund’s yield.
Debt Securities Risk: The values of debt securities may increase or decrease as a result of the following: market fluctuations, changes in interest rates, actual or perceived inability or unwillingness of issuers, guarantors or liquidity providers to make scheduled principal or interest payments or illiquidity in debt securities markets; the risk of low rates of return due to reinvestment of securities during periods of falling interest rates or repayment by issuers with higher coupon or interest rates; and/or the risk of low income due to falling interest rates. To the extent that interest rates rise, certain underlying obligations may be paid off substantially slower than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply. A rising interest rate environment may cause the value of the Fund’s fixed income securities to decrease, an adverse impact on the liquidity of the Fund’s fixed income securities, and increased volatility of the fixed income markets. The current historically low interest rate environment heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates. During periods when interest rates are at low levels, the Fund’s yield can be low, and the Fund may have a negative yield (i.e., it may lose money on an operating basis). If the principal on a debt obligation is prepaid before expected, the prepayments of principal may have to be reinvested in obligations paying interest at lower rates. During periods of falling interest rates, the income received by the Fund may decline. Changes in interest rates will likely have a greater effect on the values of debt securities of longer durations. Returns on investments in debt securities could trail the returns on other investment options, including investments in equity securities.

2.
Effective immediately, the ADDITIONAL RISK INFORMATION section beginning on page 272 of the Prospectus is updated to:  (i) replace the existing Preferred Securities Risk discussion with the corresponding discussion below; (ii) add the Debt Securities Risk discussion below; and (iii) reflect in the risk chart that Debt Securities Risk is a principal risk of the Fund.
Preferred Securities Risk. Generally, preferred security holders have no or limited voting rights with respect to the issuing company. In addition, preferred securities are generally senior to common stock, but subordinated to bonds and other debt instruments in a company’s capital structure and therefore will be subject to greater credit risk than those debt instruments. In the event an issuer of preferred securities experiences economic difficulties, the issuer’s preferred securities may lose substantial value due to the increased likelihood of deferred interest or dividend payments and the fact that the preferred security may be subordinated to other securities of the same issuer. Further, because many preferred securities pay interest or dividends at a fixed rate, their market price can be sensitive to changes in interest rates in a manner similar to bonds - that is, as interest rates rise, the value of the preferred securities held by the Fund are likely to decline. Therefore, to the extent that the Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in fixed rate preferred securities, rising interest rates may cause the value of the Fund’s investments to decline significantly. In addition, to the extent preferred securities allow holders to convert the preferred securities into common stock of the issuer, their market price can be sensitive to changes in the value of the issuer’s common stock and, therefore, declining common stock values may also cause the value of the Fund’s investments to decline. Preferred securities often have call features which allow the issuer to redeem the security at its discretion. The redemption of a preferred security having a higher than average yield may cause a decrease in the Fund’s yield.
Debt Securities Risk. The values of debt securities may increase or decrease as a result of the following: market fluctuations, changes in interest rates, actual or perceived inability or unwillingness of issuers, guarantors or liquidity providers to make scheduled principal or interest payments or illiquidity in debt securities markets; the risk of low rates of return due to reinvestment of securities during periods of falling interest rates or repayment by issuers with higher coupon or interest rates; and/or the risk of low income due to falling interest rates. To the extent that interest rates rise, certain underlying obligations may be paid off substantially slower than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply. A rising interest rate environment may cause the value of the Fund’s fixed income securities to decrease, a decline in the Fund’s income and yield, an adverse impact on the liquidity of the Fund’s fixed income securities, and increased volatility of the fixed income markets. The current historically low interest rate environment heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates. During periods when interest rates are at low levels, the Fund’s yield can be low, and the Fund may have a negative yield (i.e., it may lose money on an operating basis). If the principal on a debt obligation is prepaid before expected, the prepayments of principal may have to be reinvested in obligations paying interest at lower rates. During periods of falling interest rates, the income received by the Fund may decline. Changes in interest rates will likely have a greater effect on the values of debt securities of longer durations. Returns on investments in debt securities could trail the returns on other investment options, including investments in equity securities.

PLEASE RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR FUTURE REFERENCE
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