State Street Global Advisors, the investment management arm of State Street Corporation, has announced the launch of trading of the SPDR Barclays Capital Intermediate Term Credit exchan
State Street Global Advisors, the investment management arm of State Street Corporation, has announced the launch of trading of the SPDR Barclays Capital Intermediate Term Credit exchange traded fund on NYSE Arca.
Its annual expense ratio is 0.15 per cent.
Designed to provide precise, low-cost access to investment grade credit bonds, the ETF seeks to track the price and yield performance of the Barclays Capital Intermediate Credit Index.
The index includes investment grade corporate and non-corporate credit bonds that are dollar denominated and have a remaining maturity of greater than or equal to one year and less than ten years. As of 31 December 2008, the index included 2,512 issues with an average credit rating of A and dollar-weighted maturity of 5.20 years.
‘Developed in response to increasing demand from investors seeking access to intermediate credit securities, a segment of the fixed-income market that has historically offered higher yields than US Treasuries, the SPDR Barclays Capital Intermediate Term Credit Bond ETF is a key addition to our growing family of fixed income SPDR ETFs,’ says James Ross, a senior managing director at State Street Global Advisors.
‘With current yield spreads edging wider than they have been in more than 15 years, investment-grade corporate bonds are an attractive asset classes for investors seeking to further diversify their fixed income holdings or hedge against future interest-rate hikes.’
State Street Global Advisors has managed fixed-income index funds since 1984. As of 31 December 2008, the firm manages USD270bn in fixed income assets globally, and SSgA Funds Management, the adviser to the SPDR Barclays Intermediate Term Credit Bond ETF, manages more than USD4bn across 13 fixed income SPDR ETFs that provide access to core segments of the bond market.
