United States Commodity Index Fund Receives 5-Star Overall Rating from Morningstar

OAKLAND, Calif., June 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- United States Commodity Funds announced today that the United States Commodity Index Fund (USCI) has received the highest 5-Star Overall Rating^TM from Morningstar.  The fund was rated against the 85 Commodity Broad Basket funds for its overall risk-adjusted performance over the three-year period ending March 31, 2014.

"We believe commodities have an important role in an investor's portfolio," stated John Hyland, Chief Investment Officer of United States Commodity Funds, "and we're pleased to have earned this recognition from Morningstar.  USCI offers a unique way for investors to access commodities."

USCI seeks to track the returns from a portfolio of diversified commodity futures contracts.  The fund's benchmark is the SummerHaven Dynamic Commodity Index (SDCI), which is based on the research of Yale Professor Geert Rouwenhorst.    The SDCI's selection process uses market price signals to identify commodities with lower inventory positions for inclusion in the index each month.  

United States Commodity Funds

United States Commodity Funds LLC is the manager of exchange traded securities that are designed to track the movements of the prices of different commodity futures.  USCF is registered with the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as a commodity pool operator and has approximately $2.0 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2014.

SummerHaven

SummerHaven Index Management, LLC creates innovative commodity indexes focused on providing investors with better risk-adjusted returns than traditional commodity indexes.  The firm is the owner, creator and licensor of commodity indexes including the SummerHaven Dynamic Commodity Index (SDCI).  SummerHaven Index Management's principals include K. Geert Rouwenhorst, an academic who is one of the authors of widely cited research on commodity futures investing including "Facts and Fantasies about Commodity Futures" and "Fundamentals of Commodities Futures Returns".  The firm is led by a team with extensive experience in commodity futures, capital markets, investment management, and exchange traded products.

To learn more about United States Commodity Funds' other products, visit www.unitedstatescommodityfunds.com or call 800-920-0259.

Important Considerations

This material must be preceded or accompanied by a prospectus.  Please read it carefully before investing or sending money.

United States Commodity Index Fund (USCI), is not a mutual fund or any other type of Investment Company within the meaning of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, and is not subject to regulation thereunder.

Commodity and futures trading is highly speculative and generally volatile and are not suitable for all investors.  USCI is speculative and involves a high degree of risk.  An investor may lose all of substantially all of an investment in the USCI. 

The Morningstar Rating™ is provided for those exchange-traded funds ("ETFs") with at least a three-year history.  Ratings are based on the ETF's Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure which accounts for variation in monthly performance, placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance.  An ETF's risk-adjusted return includes a brokerage commission estimate. This estimate is intended to reflect what an average investor would pay when buying or selling an ETF.  This estimate is subject to change and the actual brokerage commission an investor pays may be higher or lower than this estimate.  Morningstar compares each ETF's risk-adjusted return to the open-end mutual fund rating breakpoints for that category.  Consistent with the open-end mutual fund ratings, the top 10% of ETFs 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.  The overall rating for an ETF is based on a weighted average of the time-period ratings (e.g., the ETF's 3, 5, and 10 year rating).  The determination of an ETF's rating does not affect the retail open end mutual fund data published by Morningstar.  Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Open-end funds are a type of mutual fund that continually issue shares to accommodate investor demand.  These funds are purchased or sold at the end of the day, after their NAV has been calculated.

ETFs are pooled investments and may be purchased or sold throughout the trading day, like a stock. 

Shares of the Fund are not FDIC insured, may lose value and have no bank guarantee.

Indexes are unmanaged and do not reflect the deduction of any fees, expenses or taxes; individuals cannot invest directly in an index. Only authorized purchasers may purchase or sell directly with USCI in minimum blocks of 50,000 shares.

The Fund is not operated in a fashion such that their NAVs will reflect the percentage change of the price of any particular futures contract as measured over a time period greater than one day.  It is not the intent to operate the Funds in a fashion such that their NAV will equal, in dollar terms, the spot price of any particular futures contract.

To obtain a copy of the prospectus, call 1-800-920-0259 or to download a copy, visit www.unitedstatescommodityindexfund.com/prospectus-usci.php or write to ALPS Distributors Inc., 1290 Broadway, Suite 1100, Denver, CO 80203.  Fund distributed by ALPS Distributors, Inc.

SOURCE United States Commodity Funds