NEW YORK, May 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Recent comments from the Federal Reserve and a growing number of economic developments including lower unemployment, have many fixed income investors wondering when, not if, interest rates will start to rise. With this in mind, S&P Capital IQ will focus its next "ETF Analyst Hour" webinar on "Fixed Income ETFs: Growth, Innovations, and How to Analyze."

Taking place on Tuesday, May 21, 2013, at 11:00am EDT, this webinar will feature special guest speaker Dodd Kittsley, Director, Global Head of ETP Research with BlackRock, who will be joined by Todd Rosenbluth, S&P Capital IQ's Director of ETF and Mutual Fund Research. Kittsley will provide an overview of the state of the U.S. ETF industry, focusing on the income front, and on industry innovations designed to address the challenge of rising interest rates.

Rosenbluth will then lead a discussion on what he sees as the best various ways to incorporate fixed income ETFs into an investor's portfolio, including the importance of analyzing variations in yield, credit quality and interest rate sensitivity. These factors play an important role in the new ETF coverage and rankings that S&P Capital IQ will be rolling out in late May. At that time, reports and rankings on approximately 180 fixed income ETFs will be made available to subscribers of S&P Capital IQ's MarketScope Advisor platform.

"Fixed income exchange traded funds represent one of the most compelling and fastest growing segments of the ETF industry," said Mr. Kittlsey.  "We believe investor appetite for bond ETFs will continue over the coming decade, spurred by the income needs of aging populations and increased awareness of the many benefits that ETFs offer."

This webinar is the latest in S&P Capital IQ's monthly ETF Analyst Hour series and one hour of CFP continuing education credit is available to attendees. Interested attendees can register here.

Anthony Hohmann, ETF product manager, will moderate the discussion and highlight S&P Capital IQ's ETF holdings-based ranking methodology and model performance to date.

Following the presentation, the ETF research reports for the ETFs discussed will be available to all attendees. The ETF reports are initially published on S&P Capital IQ's MarketScope Advisor platform.

Follow @spmarketscope and #ETFHour during the webinar for up-to-the-second ETF commentary from S&P Capital IQ equity analysts.

About S&P Capital IQ
S&P Capital IQ, a part of McGraw-Hill Financial, is a leading provider of multi-asset class and real time data, research and analytics to institutional investors, investment and commercial banks, investment advisors and wealth managers, corporations and universities around the world. Evaluated pricing is prepared by Standard & Poor's Securities Evaluations, Inc., a part of S&P Capital IQ and a registered investment adviser with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.  S&P Capital IQ provides a broad suite of capabilities designed to help track performance, generate alpha, identify new trading and investment ideas, and perform risk analysis and mitigation strategies. Through leading desktop solutions such as Capital IQ, Global Credit Portal and MarketScope Advisor desktops; enterprise solutions such as S&P Capital IQ Valuations; and research offerings, including Leveraged Commentary & Data, Global Markets Intelligence, and company and fund research, S&P Capital IQ sharpens financial intelligence into the wisdom today's investors need.  For more information visit www.spcapitaliq.com.

For more information contact:

Marc Eiger, Communications, Tel.: 212-438-1280
marc.eiger@spcapitaliq.com

SOURCE S&P Capital IQ