iShares, which currently offers three Treasury ETFs based on Lehman Brothers indices as well as U.S. corporate bond ETS, are index funds that are bought and sold like common stocks on securities exchanges. This fund is designed to track Lehman Brothers U.S. Aggregate Index, which represents securities of the U.S. investment grade bond market.
Additionally, last week iShares files a prospectus with regulators for the iShares CSFB Liquid U.S. Agency Bond Fund.
"We're excited to [offer] investors an iShares that is based on the well-known Lehman Brothers Aggregate Index," said Lee Kranefuss, chief executive of BGI's exchange-traded funds Business. "The iShares fund would be the first ETF to provide investors with cost-effective access to U.S. government and investment grade securities with the ease of buying a stock."
The Lehman Brothers U.S. Aggregate Bond Index includes publicly issued U.S. Treasury, agency, corporate, mortgage pass-through, asset-backed and commercial mortgage-backed securities. To be in the index, all securities must have at least one year remaining maturity, $150 million par amount outstanding, and be rated investment grade (Baa3 or better) by Moodys.
