Van Eck's “Constant Maturity” Approach to Commodity Investing Turns in Strong July Performance

The UBS Bloomberg Constant Maturity Commodity Total Return Index (ticker: CMCITR), a modern commodity index designed to reduce the potential negative effects of contango, returned 3.59 percent during July and 6.69 percent year-to-date (YTD), outpacing the two most popular traditional commodity benchmarks: the Dow Jones UBS Commodity Index (DJUBSTR, up 2.96 percent in July and 0.31 percent YTD) and the S&P GSCI Total Return Index (SPGSCITR, up 2.44 percent in July, 5.21 percent YTD). Contango, as mentioned above, refers to an upward sloping futures curve, which is a major concern for commodity investors.

CMCITR is diversified across 27 commodity constituents and up to five maturities. Its constant maturity approach is designed to minimize investment exposure to the front end of the futures curve, and by diversifying exposure across the forward futures curve, the index seeks to mitigate the impact of contango, a major concern for commodity investors.

First published in January 2007, CMCITR is the underlying index of the Van Eck CM Commodity Index Fund (tickers: CMCAX, COMIX, CMCYX), a passively-managed mutual fund launched at yearend 2010. “As we look back on the commodity markets during a volatile first half of 2011 and a tumultuous start to the second half of the year, we remain convinced of the benefits of the constant maturity approach,” said Kristen Capuano, Marketing Director for Van Eck Funds. “The performance history of numerous commodity funds has shown that whether a manager is long-only or long/short, it is difficult to consistently predict the shape of futures curves. Further, traditional indexes continue to suffer from negative roll yield during periods of contango, which can significantly reduce performance.”

Contango Defined

Contango refers to an upward-sloping futures curve. When a curve is in contango, the futures price is greater than the spot price. As a result, the price of a futures contract is greater than the price of an expiring contract. When this occurs, investors will incur an added cost each time a contract expires and it is rolled over and replaced it with another contract.

About Van Eck Global

Founded in 1955, Van Eck Associates Corporation was among the first U.S. money managers helping investors achieve greater diversification through global investing. Today the firm continues this 50+ year tradition by offering global investment choices in hard assets, emerging markets, precious metals including gold, and other specialized asset classes.

Market Vectors exchange-traded products have been offered by Van Eck Global since 2006 when the firm launched the nation’s first gold mining ETF. Today, Market Vectors ETFs and ETNs span several asset classes, including equities, municipal bonds and currency markets.

Van Eck Global also offers mutual funds, variable insurance products, separate accounts and alternative investments. Designed for investors seeking innovative choices for portfolio diversification, Van Eck Global’s investment products are often categorized in asset classes having returns with low correlations to those of more traditional U.S. equity and fixed income investments.

All indices are unmanaged and include the reinvestment of all dividends, but do not reflect the payment of transaction costs, advisory fees or expenses that are associated with an investment in the Fund. An index’s performance is not illustrative of the Funds performance. Indices are not securities in which investments can be made. Results reflect past performance and do not guarantee future results. This performance is historical and is provided to illustrate market trends. The DJUBS is composed of futures contracts on 19 physical commodities. The S&P GSCI is composed of futures contracts on 24 physical commodities, with high energy concentration and limited diversification. Both indices buy and sell short-term (i.e., “front month”) futures contracts. In comparison, the UBS CMCI is composed of futures contracts on 27 physical commodities and buys and sell contracts with maturities of three months and, for some commodities, up to three years.

UBS and Bloomberg own or exclusively license, solely or jointly as agreed between them all proprietary rights with respect to the Index. In no way do UBS or Bloomberg sponsor or endorse, nor are they otherwise involved in the issuance and offering of the Fund nor do either of them make any representation or warranty, express or implied, to the holders of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the advisability of investing in the Fund or commodities generally or in futures particularly, or as to results to be obtained from the use of the Index or from the Fund.

Risks: You can lose money by investing in the Fund. Any investment in the Fund should be part of an overall investment program, not a complete program. Commodities are assets that have tangible properties, such as oil, metals, and agriculture. Commodities and commodity-linked derivatives may be affected by overall market movements and other factors that affect the value of a particular industry or commodity such as weather, disease, embargoes or political or regulatory developments. The value of a commodity-linked derivative is generally based on price movements of a commodity, a commodity futures contract, a commodity index or other economic variables based on the commodity markets. Derivatives use leverage, which may exaggerate a loss. The Fund is subject to the risks associated with its investments in commodity-linked derivatives, risks of investing in wholly owned subsidiary, risk of tracking error, risks of aggressive investment techniques, leverage risk, derivatives risks, counterparty risks, non-diversification risk, credit risk, concentration risk and market risk. The use of commodity-linked derivatives such as swaps, commodity-linked structured notes and futures entails substantial risks, including risk of loss of a significant portion of their principal value, lack of a secondary market, increased volatility, correlation risk, liquidity risk, interest-rate risk, market risk, credit risk, valuation risk and tax risk. Gains and losses from speculative positions in derivatives may be much greater than the derivative’s cost. At any time, the risk of loss of any individual security held by the Fund could be significantly higher than 50% of the security’s value. Investment in commodity markets may not be suitable for all investors. The Fund’s investment in commodity-linked derivative instruments may subject the fund to greater volatility than investment in traditional securities.

For a description of these and other risk considerations, please refer to the Fund’s prospectuses, which should be read carefully before you invest. Again, the Fund offers investors exposure to the broad commodity markets, currently by investing in a combination of commodity-linked structured notes and swaps. The Fund has obtained a private letter ruling from the IRS confirming that the income produced by certain types of structured notes constitutes “qualifying income.”

Please call 800.826.2333 or visit vaneck.com for performance information current to the most recent month end and for a free prospectus and summary prospectus. An investor should consider the Fund’s investment objective, risks, and charges and expenses carefully before investing. The prospectus and summary prospectus contains this and other information. Please read it carefully before investing.

Van Eck Securities Corporation, Distributor, 335 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10017