A new ETF fund that provides inverse or short exposure to U.S. Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) was introduced by ProShares.

The ProShares UltraShort TIPS (NYSE: TPS) aims for double the daily inverse performance of the Barclays Capital U.S. Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS) Index (Series-L).

TIPS are government-issued fixed-income securities that are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.  The principal value of TIPS is adjusted monthly according to the rate of inflation measured by the U.S. consumer price index.

“Fueled by expectations of rising long-term interest rates, our inverse Treasury ProShares have garnered more than $7 billion since launching less than three years ago,” said Michael L. Sapir, Chairman and CEO of ProShare Advisors LLC, ProShares’ investment advisor. “Our new fund, the first inverse TIPS ETF, is a new tool for investors considering hedging against or seeking to benefit from declines in TIPS prices.”

Over the past year, ETF funds linked to the performance of TIPS like the iShares Barclays TIPS Bond Fund (NYSE: TIP) and the SPDR Barclays Capital TIPS ETF (NYSE: IPE) have climbed around 3.15%. Yields currently hover in the 2.40% range.

As a short ETF, TPS charges annual expenses of 0.95% and expands the ProShares lineup of Treasury ETFs to six. The lineup now includes four funds offering short exposure and two that offer magnified exposure to Barclays Capital U.S. Treasury Indexes.

ProShares manages with 115 ETFs with nearly $24 billion in assets.

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