Daily ETF Watch: 4 Closures On Deck

Four exchange-traded products hit the end of the road.

At least four ETF closures are taking place in the early weeks of 2016. Two products, an ETF and an ETN, saw their last days of trading on Jan. 27, while a pair of UBS ETNs are set to make their final payments to shareholders on Feb. 1.

The Credit Suisse X-Links Commodity Benchmark ETN (CSCB) shut down yesterday, as did the Guggenheim Russell 1000 Equal Weight ETF (EWRI). However, EWRI’s closure is no everyday delisting—the ETF is being absorbed into the popular (and nearly $9 billion) Guggenheim S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP | A-78). Like RSP, EWRI is an equal-weighted fund covering the large-cap space, so it’s not surprising Guggenheim chose to fold it into another, similar product.

Next Monday will be the shareholders’ payment date for the closing Etracs 2X Monthly Leveraged Long Alerian MLP Infrastructure ETN (MLPL) and the Etracs 2x Monthly Leveraged S&P MLP Index ETN (MLPV). MLPL had nearly $130 million in assets under management, while MLPV was roughly one tenth that size. The closure of the ETNs is no doubt at least partially the result of the plunging MLP and oil prices.

ProShares Adds To Dividend Growers Family

On Wednesday, Jan. 27, ProShares rolled out the ProShares MSCI Emerging Markets Dividend Growers ETF (EMDV) on the NYSE Arca. The fund joins three other “Dividend Growers” ETFs covering Europe, the small-cap U.S. spaces and developed markets.

The existing funds in the family and their expense ratios are as follows:

• ProShares MSCI EAFE Dividend Growers ETF (EFAD | C-71), 0.50%
• ProShares MSCI Europe Dividend Growers ETF (EUDV), 0.55%
• ProShares Russell 2000 Dividend Growers ETF (SMDV), 0.40%

The Dividend Growers methodology targets companies from a parent index that have a long history of growing dividends.

EMDV comes with an expense ratio of 0.60%.

Contact Heather Bell at [email protected].