Market Vectors High-Yield Municipal Index ETF Becomes the First High-Yield Muni ETF to Cross the $1

Market VectorsHigh-Yield Municipal Index ETF Becomes the First High-Yield Muni ETF to Cross the $1 Billion Asset Threshold

Strong demand for yield together with historically low interest rates have fueled investor demand for municipal funds across the yield curve and credit spectrum

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Market Vectors High-Yield Municipal Index ETF(NYSE Arca: HYD), has surpassed $1 billion in assets under management (AUM), it was announced. HYD is the first high-yield municipal bond ETF, and just the fourth municipal bond ETF overall, to pass this threshold. This milestone puts the entire Market Vectors suite of six municipal income ETFs over $2 billion in AUM.

"High yield is far more than a niche in the municipal bond market as it enables traditional as well as certain for-profit issuers to access capital at a lower cost than they otherwise could in the taxable market," said James Colby, Portfolio Manager and Senior Municipal Strategist with Market Vectors ETFs. "More significantly, it is an attractive source of tax-free* yield for investors who seek to augment their income stream in a yield constrained market. With credit impairments on the decline, and the low-cost feature of ETFs, a diversified municipal portfolio such as HYD may be compelling to a variety of investors."

HYD currently has a 4 out of 5-star rating from Morningstar in both the overall and three-year time periods. This rating is an indication of a fund's risk-adjusted returns. In addition, HYD has a competitive yield and lower expense ratio as compared to its ETF and mutual fund competitors.

The fund launched in February of 2009 and was the first ETF to provide investors with access to high-yield

municipal bonds. HYD seeks to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Barclays Municipal Custom High Yield Composite Index (LMEHTR), which is calculated using a market value weighting methodology. The index tracks the high-yield municipal bond market with a 75 percent weight in non-investment grade municipal bonds and a 25 percent weight in Baa/BBB-rated investment grade municipal bonds for liquidity.

"In isolating the high-yield muni space with HYD, we've provided investors the kind of targeted exposure many are looking for when making allocations to different corners of the municipal market," added Mr. Colby, who regularly blogs about the municipal bond market at Muni Nation.

HYD is part of a suite of ETFs in the Market Vectors municipal income lineup, which was designed to cover the full risk/return spectrum. The other funds include Market Vectors CEF Municipal Income ETF (NYSE Arca: XMPT), Market Vectors Intermediate Municipal Index ETF (NYSE Arca: ITM), Market Vectors Long Municipal Index ETF (NYSE Arca: MLN), Market Vectors Pre-Refunded Municipal Index ETF (NYSE Arca: PRB), and Market Vectors Short Municipal Index ETF (NYSE Arca: SMB). As of November HYD, ITM and SMB are each 4-star Morningstar funds on a three-year and overall basis, while MLN has received 5 stars on an overall and three year basis.

More information on HYD and the rest of the Market Vectors municipal bond ETF family can be found here.

* Some portions of the distributions from HYD may be subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).

©2012 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

For each fund with at least a three-year history, Morningstar calculates a Morningstar Rating^TM based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a fund's monthly performance (including the effects of sales charges, loads, and redemption fees), placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The top 10% of funds in each category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. (Each share class is counted as a fraction of one fund within this scale and rated separately, which may cause slight variations in the distribution percentages.) The Overall Morningstar Rating for a fund is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five- and ten-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics.

Market Vectors Short Municipal ETF was rated against the following numbers of U.S.-domiciled Muni Short funds over the following time periods: 135 funds in the last three years. With respect to these Muni Short funds, Market Vectors Short Municipal Index ETF received a Morningstar Rating of 4 stars for the three year period. Market Vectors Intermediate Municipal Index ETF was rated against the following numbers of U.S.-domiciled Muni National Intermediate funds over the following time periods: 218 funds in the last three years. With respect to these Muni National Intermediate funds, Market Vectors Intermediate Municipal Index ETF received a Morningstar Rating of 4 stars for the three year period. Market Vectors Long Municipal ETF was rated against the following numbers of U.S.-domiciled Muni National Long funds over the following time periods: 221 funds in the last three years. With respect to these Muni National Long funds, Market Vectors Long Municipal Index ETF received a Morningstar Rating of 5 stars for the three year period. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

About Market Vectors ETFs

Market Vectors exchange-traded products have been offered since 2006 and span many asset classes, including equities, fixed income (municipal and international bonds) and currency markets. The Market Vectors family currently totals $27.9 billion in assets under management, making it the fifth largest ETP family in the U.S. and eighth largest worldwide as of September 30, 2012.

Market Vectors ETFs are sponsored by Van Eck Global. Founded in 1955, Van Eck Global was among the first U.S. money managers helping investors achieve greater diversification through global investing. Today, the firm continues this tradition by offering innovative, actively managed investment choices in hard assets, emerging markets, precious metals including gold, and other alternative asset classes. Van Eck Global has offices around the world and manages approximately $37.8 billion in investor assets as of September 30, 2012.

Municipal bonds are subject to risks related to litigation, legislation, political change, conditions in underlying sectors or in local business communities and economies, bankruptcy or other changes in the issuer's financial condition, and/or the discontinuance of taxes supporting the project or assets or the inability to collect revenues for the project or from the assets. Additional risks include credit, interest rate, call, reinvestment, tax, market and lease obligation risk. High-yield municipal bonds are subject to greater risk of loss of income and principal than higher-rated securities, and are likely to be more sensitive to adverse economic changes or individual municipal developments than those of higher-rated securities. Interest and principal payments for pre-refunded bonds are funded from securities in an escrow account. The escrowed securities do not guarantee the price of these bonds. Municipal bonds may be less liquid than taxable bonds. There is no guarantee that the Funds' income will be exempt from federal or state income taxes, and changes in those tax rates or in alternative minimum tax rates or in the tax treatment of municipal bonds may make them less attractive as investments and cause them to lose value. Capital gains, if any, are subject to capital gains tax. Some portions of the distributions from HYD and XMPT may be subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).

Fund shares are not individually redeemable and will be issued and redeemed at their NAV only through certain authorized broker-dealers in large, specified blocks of shares called "creation units" and otherwise can be bought and sold only through exchange trading. Creation units are issued and redeemed principally in kind. Shares may trade at a premium or discount to their NAV in the secondary market.

Investing involves substantial risk and high volatility, including possible loss of principal. Bonds and bond funds will decrease in value as interest rates rise. An investor should consider the investment objective, risks, charges and expenses of the Fund carefully before investing. To obtain a prospectus and summary prospectus, which contains this and other information, call 888.MKT.VCTR or visit vaneck.com/etf. Please read the prospectus and summary prospectus carefully before investing.

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

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