Products March 1, 2002

Vanguard Sets Another VIPER on Amex

January 3, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Vanguard Extended Market (VEM) Vanguard Index Participation Equity Receipts (VIPERS), an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks the Wilshire 4500 Completion Index, will begin trading on the American Stock Exchange tomorrow.

Reported by

Camilla Klein

Vanguard Extended Market VIPERs are the second in the group’s VIPER series. The first of the series, Total Stock Market VIPERs, was launched in May last year (See Vanguard to Offer ETFs at Month-End ).

The Extended Market Index Fund tracks the Wilshire 4500 Completion Index of small- and mid-capitalization stocks. The index includes all of the stocks in the Wilshire 5000 Index, excluding the stocks of the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index. Vanguard filed its intention to launch the new ETF in July (see Vanguard Readies Its Second ETF )

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The Wilshire 4500 captures the capitalization-weighted returns of the approximately 6,000 small- and mid-capitalization companies that “complete” the US equity market.

In contrast to the conventional shares of the Extended Market Index Fund, VEM VIPER shares can be bought and sold throughout the trading day. Conventional mutual fund shares are bought and sold at the shares’ net asset value at the end of the day.

The new VIPER will trade under the symbol VXF.