iShares Launches Short-Term TIPS Bond Fund (STIP)

With another round of QE underway and strong demand for raw materials from emerging markets, inflation is once again on the mind of investors. Those looking to protect their portfolios from a surge in CPI have a number of options, ranging from gold to broad-based commodity baskets to equities of commodity-intensive companies. But among the most popular inflation hedges are TIPS, Treasuries that adjust principal amount based on changes in CPI. Demand for these securities has become so significant that in a recent TIPS auction the yield hit -0.5%. When seeking out TIPS exposure, investors have increasingly turned towards ETFs. Among the most popular products tracking TIPS is the iShares Barclays TIPS Bond Fund (TIP), which has amassed $20 billion in assets. The fund has a broad focus across a variety of maturity levels, with one third of the holdings allocated to short-term securities and one-quarter of the assets going towards [...] Click here to read the original article on ETFdb.com.