Many exchange traded funds (ETFs) side-stepped the BP debacle through the luck of their design, reports the WSJ Fund Track. BP shares trade as an ADR in the United States, and many ETFs are restricted to shares of U.S.-based companies.

One ETF that does not have this restriction is iShares S&P Global Energy Sector Index Fund (IXC), according to the paper.

Fewer ETFs are sheltered from the fallout hitting Transocean. Though Standard & Poor's dropped the Zug, Switzerland-based company from its S&P 500 index when it relocated from the Cayman Islands, MSCI still classifies it as a U.S. company. 

Edited by: Sean Hanna, Editor in Chief


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