Products September 26, 2003

Barclays Releases New Bond ETF

September 26, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Barclays Global Investors has announced the launch of its iShares US Aggregate Bond exchange-traded fund (ETF).
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The new ETF, Barclay’s fifth fixed-income ETF, is designed to track the Lehman Aggregate Bond Index.    It will trade on the American Stock Exchange under the symbol AGG, according to a news release.

The latest release follows the approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the new fund and the iShares Lehman US Treasury Inflation Protected Securities in August (See  Creation of Bond ETFs Gets Green Light ).   These will be added to the current Barclay’s fixed-income ETF lineup that debuted in July 2002 (See  Bond ETFs Debut ).

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Fixed Income iShares are portfolios of bonds that can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like shares of stock, at prices determined by the market. Like traditional open-ended mutual funds, these bond-based ETFs allow investors to purchase a basket of bonds with one simple transaction.

In addition, whereas mutual funds are required to disclose their holdings semi-annually, iShares holdings are available daily.

Investing September 25, 2003

MSCI Beefs Up Hedge Fund Index List

September 25, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - MSCI's list of hedge fund indices is growing longer.
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According to a news release, MSCI has added 29 new indices for a total of more then 190 and plans even more additions later in the year.

“We have reached critical mass in terms of the number of hedge funds in our database, allowing us to produce indices that reflect a greater number of segments of the hedge fund universe,” said Daniel Coker, head of Hedge Fund Research and Operations for MSCI, in a statement. “Clients using the MSCI Hedge Fund Indices and Database will now be able to conduct peer group comparisons on an even more granular level, allowing them to understand the performance of various hedge fund strategies in a much more organized and accurate manner.”

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The MSCI Hedge Fund Classification Standard provides the basis for several levels of index detail and three primary characteristics – hedge fund investment process, asset class and geography – to classify funds and define hedge fund strategy indices.

Secondary classification characteristics include industry segmentation according to the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS)and capitalization size for equity-oriented strategies, and a variety of fixed income criteria. Some notable additions are the Small Fund and Core Fund Process Group Index Series, and the Short Bias and Event Driven Investment Process indices.

The MSCI Hedge Fund Indices and Database were launched in July of 2002 with over 90 indices supported by a database of 750 funds. Currently MSCI’s database has over 1,600 funds representing more than $160 billion of assets, reflecting the addition of approximately 70 funds per month since the product was launched, MSCI said.

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