The American Stock Exchange(R) (Amex(R)) today launched trading in the Bear Stearns Current Yield Fund (Amex: YYY) managed by Bar Stearns Asset Management (BSAM). YYY is the first actively-managed exchange traded fund (ETF) to become available to investors.

"Amex is proud to partner with Bear Stearns Asset Management to introduce the first, and much anticipated, actively-managed ETF to the marketplace. We are excited to mark another important milestone in the development of the ETF industry," said Scott Ebner, Senior Vice President of the Amex ETF Marketplace. "YYY provides investors with access to a transparent, professionally managed portfolio of short-term fixed income securities."

YYY seeks as high a level of current income as is consistent with the preservation of capital and liquidity. The portfolio manager seeks to attain the Fund's objective by investing primarily in short-term debt obligations, including U.S. government securities, bank obligations, corporate debt obligations, mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities, municipal obligations, foreign bank obligations, foreign corporate debt obligations, repurchase agreements and reverse repurchase agreements.

Unlike an index fund which aims to achieve the total return of the securities comprising a specified market index, YYY is actively-managed by its portfolio manager. The portfolio manager has the discretion to choose securities for the Fund's portfolio consistent with the Fund's investment objective.