State Street Global Advisers to shutter 12 unloved ETFs

State Street Global Advisors is sending 12 of its exchange-traded funds to Palookaville, citing limited market demand.

Most of the ETFs being liquidated are international with an out-of-favor BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) flavor. For example, the SPDR S&P BRIC 40 ETF (BIK), clearly a play on the BRIC fad, accumulated about $74 million in assets, but also racked up a 3.74% average annual loss the past five years.

Others on the chopping block included several bond funds, such as SPDR Barclays International High Yield Bond ETF (IJNK), gained only $25.6 million in assets since its March 2014 inception. The largest fund to get its walking papers is SPDR Nuveen Barclays California Muni Bond ETF (CXA), which has nearly $148 million in assets.
The funds that will soon be closed include:
• SPDR MSCI EM Beyond BRIC ETF (EMBB)
• SPDR BofA Merrill Lynch EM Corp. Bond ETF (EMCD)
• SPDR Barclays International High Yield Bond ETF (IJNK)
• SPDR MSCI EM 50 ETF (EMFT)
• SPDR Russell/Nomura PRIME Japan ETF (JPP)
• SPDR Russell/Nomura Small Cap Japan ETF (JSC)
• SPDR S&P International Mid Cap ETF (MDD)
• SPDR S&P BRIC 40 ETF (BIK)
• SPDR SSGA Risk Aware ETF (RORO)
• SPDR Nuveen Barclays Build America Bond ETF (BABS)
• SPDR Nuveen Barclays California Muni Bond ETF (CXA)
• SPDR Nuveen Barclays New York Muni Bond ETF (INY)

ProShares announced a suite of leveraged ETFs would close on Aug. 25. The funds:
• Ultra Bloomberg Commodity (UCD)
• UltraShort Bloomberg Commodity (CMD)
• Ultra MSCI Pacific Ex-Japan (UXJ)
• UltraShort MSCI Pacific Ex-Japan (JPX)
• Ultra Homebuilders & Suppliers (HBU)
• UltraShort Homebuilders & Suppliers (HBZ)
• Ultra Investment Grade Corporate (IGU)
• Short Investment Grade Corporate (IGS)
• UltraShort Junior Miners (GDJS)

And UBS announced the redemption of nine exchange-traded notes, effective this month. They are:
• ETRACS Wells Fargo MLP Ex-Energy ETN (FMLP)
• ETRACS Linked to the Wells Fargo MLP Index (MLPW)
• ETRACS Monthly Pay 2xLeveraged Dow Jones International Real Estate ETN (RWXL)
• ETRACS Diversified High Income ETN (DVHI)
• ETRACS ISE Exclusively Homebuilders ETN (HOMX)
• ETRACS Daily Long-Short VIX ETN (XVIX)
• ETRACS Linked to the S&P 500 Gold Hedged Index (SPGH)
• ETRACS S&P 500 VEQTOR Switch ETN (VQTS)
• UBS AG FI Enhanced Big Cap Growth ETN (FBG)

So far this year, 41 ETFs have been delisted, vs. about 100 for all last year. The recent announcements from State Street, ProShares, UBS all push the total of ETF closings to 71, says ETF.com.