The S&P 500 has been among the best-known and most widely used U.S. equity benchmarks for decades. In fact, over $7.8 trillion in equity investments are benchmarked to it.
Now, investors who have used the S&P 500 to help build their stock portfolios can make the S&P 500 their principal index for bond investing too.
On the upcoming webcast, The First ETF Investing Exclusively in the Bonds of the Iconic S&P 500, Jason Giordano of S&P Dow Jones Indices and Simeon Hyman from ProShares, will discuss current trends and market forces, and why it appears bond investors are shifting more toward bond ETFs.
During the webcast, attendees will learn what prompted S&P Dow Jones Indices to develop a bond index based on the S&P 500, hear what makes S&P 500 companies and their bonds distinctive, and see why ProShares believes that this index is best delivered with the cost efficiency, tradability and transparency of an ETF.
A Targeted Bond ETF Play
For instance, the ProShares S&P 500 Bond ETF (NYSEArca: SPXB) may help investors to feel more confident embracing the shift toward bond ETFs. SPXB’s index seeks to select S&P 500 bonds with stronger credit quality than the broader U.S. corporate bond landscape.
Out of more than 5,000 corporate bonds issued by S&P 500 companies, no more than 1,000 that are selected have sufficient quality and liquidity to qualify for inclusion in the S&P 500/MarketAxess Investment Grade Corporate Bond Index.
Bonds in the index are weighted by market value, with higher value bonds given greater weight than lower value bonds. The index is reset and weightings are rebalanced on a monthly basis. Private placements and other restricted securities, floating-rate, fixed-to-floating, puttable, pay-in-kind, and certain other types of bonds are excluded from the index.
Financial advisors who are interested in learning more about bond related strategies can register for the Wednesday, July 11 webcast here.