ProShares Launches First Inverse High Yield Bond ETF

ProShares, a premier provider of alternative exchange traded funds (ETFs), today announced the launch of the first ETF that provides inverse exposure to the high yield bond market.

The ProShares Short High Yield (NYSE: SJB) seeks to provide -1x the daily performance of the Markit iBoxx $ Liquid High Yield Index, before fees and expenses. The ETF lists on NYSE Arca today.

“High yield bonds have had a strong rebound since the financial crisis, with indexes reaching all-time highs1 and high yield funds attracting significant inflows over the past two years,” said Michael L. Sapir, Chairman and CEO of ProShare Advisors LLC, ProShares' investment advisor. “For investors who believe that high yield bonds are ripe for a pullback, SJB can be used to help hedge against or to seek to benefit from potential declines.”

SJB expands ProShares’ popular lineup of inverse bond ETFs to five. ProShares’ four existing inverse bond ETFs, which are benchmarked to Treasurys, have garnered more than $7 billion of assets since launching less than three years ago.

* Before fees and expenses

1 Merrill Lynch’s widely followed U.S. High Yield Master II Index and the Markit iBoxx $ Liquid High Yield Index

About ProShares

ProShares is a premier provider of alternative ETFs, with 116 funds and more than $26 billion in assets. ProShares offers the largest family of geared (leveraged and inverse) ETFs2. ProShares is part of ProFunds Group, which was founded in 1997 and includes more than $32 billion in mutual fund and ETF assets3.

2 Source: Lipper, based on a worldwide analysis of all the known providers of funds in these categories. The analysis covered ETFs, ETNs and mutual funds by the number of funds and assets as of 6/30/2010.

3 Assets as of 3/11/2011.

Leveraged and inverse ProShares and ProFunds seek returns that are multiples or inverse multiples (e.g., 2x, -2x) of the return of an index or other benchmark (target) for a single day. Due to the compounding of daily returns, leveraged and inverse ProShares’ and ProFunds’ returns over periods other than one day will likely differ in amount and possibly direction from the target return for the same period. Investors should monitor their holdings consistent with their strategies, as frequently as daily, and rebalance if necessary. A rebalancing strategy involves transaction costs and may have tax consequences. For more on correlation, leverage and other risks, please read the ProShares or ProFunds prospectus.

Disclosure:

Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. ProShares and ProFunds are non-diversified and entail certain risks, including risk associated with the use of derivatives (futures contracts, swap agreements and similar instruments), imperfect benchmark correlation, leverage and market price variance, all of which can increase volatility and decrease performance. Bond values will fall when interest rates rise. High yield bonds may involve greater levels of interest rate, credit, liquidity and valuation risk than for higher-rated instruments. Short ProShares and ProFunds should lose money when their benchmarks or indexes rise. See the prospectus for a more complete description of risks. There is no guarantee any ProShares ETF or ProFund will achieve its investment objective.

Carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of ProShares and ProFunds before investing. This and other information can be found in their summary and full prospectuses. Read them carefully before investing. Obtain them at www.proshares.com or www.profunds.com.

The iBoxx $ Liquid High Yield Index is a modified market-value weighted index designed to provide a balanced representation of U.S. dollar-denominated high yield corporate bonds for sale within the United States by means of including the most liquid high yield corporate bonds available as determined by the index provider. iBoxx is a registered trade mark of International Index Company Limited (IIC) and has been licensed for use by ProShares. IIC does not approve, endorse or recommend ProShares or ProShares Short High Yield and IIC makes no representation regarding the suitability of investing in ProShares Short High Yield.

"ProFunds Group" includes ProFunds mutual funds and ProShares ETFs. ProFunds mutual funds are distributed by ProFunds Distributors, Inc.

ProShares are distributed by SEI Investments Distribution Co., which is not affiliated with ProFunds Group or its affiliates.