American Stock Exchange Trading Options on Four New Vanguard(R) Exchange Traded Funds

NEW YORK, April 10  /PRNewswire/ -- Today the American Stock Exchange(R) (Amex(R)) launched trading in options on the following exchange traded funds:

  -- Vanguard(R) Total Bond Market ETF (Symbol: BND)
  -- Vanguard(R) Short-Term Bond ETF (Symbol: BSV)
  -- Vanguard(R) Intermediate-Term Bond ETF (Symbol: BIV)
  -- Vanguard(R) Long-Term Bond ETF (Symbol: BLV)



Vanguard(R) Total Bond Market ETF options will open with position limits of 2,500,000 shares.  The options will trade on the March expiration cycle. The specialist will be Susquehanna Investment Group.  The Fund seeks to track the performance of a broad, market-weighted bond index. The Fund employs a "passive management" or indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the Lehman Brothers Aggregate Bond Index. This Index measures a wide spectrum of public, investment-grade, taxable, fixed income securities in the United States including government, corporate and international dollar- denominated bonds, as well as mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities that have maturities of more than 1 year.

Vanguard(R) Short-Term Bond ETF options will open with position limits of 2,500,000 shares.  The options will trade on the March expiration cycle. The specialist will be Susquehanna Investment Group.  The Fund seeks to track the performance of a market-weighted bond index with a short-term dollar-weighted average maturity. The Fund employs a "passive management" or indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the Lehman Brothers 1-5 Year Government/Credit Index. This Index includes all medium and larger issues of U.S. government, investment-grade corporate and investment-grade international dollar-denominated bonds that have maturities between 1 and 5 years and are publicly issued.

Vanguard(R) Intermediate Bond ETF options will open with position limits of 2,500,000 shares.  The options will trade on the March expiration cycle. The specialist will be Susquehanna Investment Group.  The Fund seeks to track the performance of a market-weighted bond index with an intermediate-term dollar-weighted average maturity. The Fund employs a "passive management" or indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the Lehman Brothers 5-10 Year Government/Credit Index. This Index includes all medium and larger issues of U.S. government, investment-grade corporate and investment grade international dollar-denominated bonds that have maturities between 5 and 10 years and are publicly issued.

Vanguard(R) Long-Term Bond ETF options will open with position limits of 2,500,000 shares.  The options will trade on the March expiration cycle. The specialist will be Susquehanna Investment Group. The Fund seeks to track the performance of a market-weighted bond index with a long-term dollar-weighted average maturity. The Fund employs a "passive management" or indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the Lehman Brothers Long Government/Credit Index. This Index includes all medium and larger issues of U.S. government, investment-grade corporate and investment-grade

international dollar-denominated bonds that have maturities of greater than 10 years and are publicly issued.

About the American Stock Exchange

The American Stock Exchange(R) (Amex(R)) offers trading across a full range of equities, options and exchange traded funds (ETFs), including structured products and HOLDRSSM. In addition to its role as a national equities market, the Amex is the pioneer of the ETF, responsible for bringing the first domestic product to market in 1993. Leading the industry in ETF listings, the Amex lists 285 ETFs to date. The Amex is also one of the largest options exchanges in the U.S., trading options on broad-based and sector indexes as well as domestic and foreign stocks. For more information, please visit http://www.amex.com/. 

DATASOURCE: American Stock Exchange



CONTACT:  Catherine Chantharaj of American Stock Exchange,

[phone], 



Web site:  http://www.amex.com/

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