Odds & Ends: More ETF Closures Than Launches
Among the five exchange-traded fund launches that unfolded this week was the actively managed EA Bridgeway Blue Chip ETF (BBLU). The new ETF, which aims for long-term total returns, selects its holdings from the 150 largest U.S. companies by market capitalization, a group the prospectus says mostly had more than $46.6 billion each in market capitalization.
BBLU’s holdings are determined by a model-driven statistical approach based on academic theory. The model is used to construct a portfolio of roughly 35 securities that exclude tobacco companies but are otherwise diversified across sectors.
The methodology allows the subadvisor to take environmental, social and governance criteria and ratings into account, though the prospectus specifically notes those are not the only data used to make investment decisions.
BBLU comes with an expense ratio of 0.15% and lists on the NYSE Arca.
Closures
Eight ETF closures were announced during the week, while another 10 shutdowns completed on Tuesday, with six more set to close on Monday.
Six target-maturity ETFs will see their last day of trading on Dec. 15 as they reach their termination dates. They include three from iShares that are as follows:
Three of the funds are offered by Invesco as part of its BulletShares family and are as follows:
On Oct. 28, the AdvisorShares Q Portfolio Blended Allocation ETF (QPT) will see its last day of trading. The fund launched in December 2020 and currently has less than $2 million.
And the VictoryShares Emerging Market High Div Volatility Wtd ETF (CEY) is set to stop trading sometime around Dec. 28. It launched in October 2017 and has about $8.2 million in assets.
Emles Advisors exited the ETF market on Tuesday when its last six ETFs saw their final day of trading. The funds are as follow:
John Hancock is set to shutter its 10 smart beta sector ETFs that track indexes provided by Dimensional Fund Advisors as of Oct. 24. Those funds are as follow: