New York-based asset manager Van Eck Global has launched on the American Stock Exchange the Market Vectors-Lehman Brothers AMT-Free Intermediate Municipal Index ETF (Amex: ITM), designed t
New York-based asset manager Van Eck Global has launched on the American Stock Exchange the Market Vectors-Lehman Brothers AMT-Free Intermediate Municipal Index ETF (Amex: ITM), designed to offer investors tax-exempt income through exposure to investment-grade municipal bonds with a nominal maturity of 6-17 years.
ITM seeks to replicate before fees and expenses the price and yield performance of the Lehman Brothers AMT-Free Intermediate Continuous Municipal Index. Lehman Brothers is the world’s largest provider of fixed income benchmarks and producer of some of the most widely followed benchmarks in the global debt markets. Issues in the underlying Lehman Brothers index are investment grade and AMT-free. The expense ratio of ITM is 0.20%.
‘Municipal bond ETFs offer investors a better way to purchase municipal securities – I like to think of it as ‘more munis for the money’,’ says Jan van Eck, Principal at Van Eck
Global. ‘There are compelling cost savings to consider when compared to individual bond purchases and traditional mutual fund platforms. Market Vectors is now coming to the market with a selection of national municipal bond ETFs, all structured to offer enhanced yield through broader diversification of index constituents. We have launched the first of this series, the Intermediate Municipal ETF.’
Earlier this month, the Securities and Exchange Commission declared effective the registration statement for a total of six new Market Vectors municipal bond exchange-traded funds. In addition to three national municipal bond ETFs, the Market Vectors Family of Municipal Bond ETFs will include two state specific ETFs (California and New York) as well as a high-yield municipal ETF.
