New Fund Invests In S&P 500 Firms’ Bonds

A new ETF from ProShares offers exposure to the companies of the S&P 500 index via the fixed-income securities they issue. The ProShares S&P 500 Bond ETF (SPXB) tracks an index that covers up to 1,000 bonds issued by the companies of the world’s best-known equity index.

SPXB lists on the NYSE Arca and comes with an expense ratio of 0.15%.

The fund’s underlying index selects up to 1,000 components from a pool of 5,000 bonds. Eligible companies must be rated investment-grade and have a par amount of at least $750 million; they also must be issued with at least 2 1/2 years to maturity and have at least one year to maturity remaining. Finally, they must be issued in the U.S. and denominated in U.S. dollars, according to the prospectus.

The document notes that the index had 1,000 bonds at the end of the first quarter that had been issued by 20 companies.

Contact Heather Bell at [email protected]