Guggenheim to Shutter 9 ETFs

Guggenheim Investments, the eighth-largest U.S. ETF sponsor, said it will close nine low-asset exchange traded funds. The announcement was made after the close of U.S. markets Friday. The average size of the nine closing ETFs is $16 million, for a total of $144 million, equaling about one percent of of Guggenheim Investments' total $13.7 billion in exchange-traded assets under management as of January 31, the firm said in a statement. The last day of trading for the ETFs is expected to be Friday, March 15, 2013. Coming on the heels of a record number of closures for the exchange-traded products industry in 2012, three ETFs and one ETN were closed in January. None of those were Guggenheim products. Guggenheim will close the Wilshire 4500 Completion ETF WKSP, the Wilshire 5000 Total Market ETF WFVK, the Guggenheim Inverse 2x S&P 500(R) ETF RSW and the Guggenheim 2x S&P 500(R) ETF RSU, among others. Perhaps in what can be viewed as a surprise given investors' current hunger for dividends and yield, the Guggenheim ABC High Dividend ETF ABCS will also be closed. ABCS currently yields 5.34 percent. Guggenheim will also close three of its equal-weight products, though the firm remains one of the dominant purveyors of such ETFs. Those closures are the Guggenheim MSCI EAFE Equal Weight ETF EWEF, the Guggenheim S&P MidCap 400(R) Equal Weight ETF EWMD and the Guggenheim S&P SmallCap 600(R) Equal Weight ETF EWSM. The Guggenheim Airline ETF FAA will also be closed. Barring a new introduction from another issuer, FAA's departure means there will no longer be an ETF devoted to the airline industry. Direxion closed a rival airline ETF in late 2011. For more on ETFs, click here.