Daily ETF Watch: 3 SPDR Funds Set To Close

State Street Global Advisors will be liquidating three of its funds by the end of this month, according to recent filings. That brings the number of closures up to nine so far this year; more than 90 funds were shuttered in all of 2014.

The ETFs to be liquidated include the following:

• SPDR Nuveen S&P VRDO Municipal Bond ETF (VRD)
• SPDR S&P Mortgage Finance ETF (KME)
• SPDR S&P Small Cap Emerging Asia Pacific ETF (GMFS)

None of the closing funds had more than $6 million in assets under management as of last Friday, the last trading day before the closure documents were filed, despite the fact that they had all been trading for at least a few years.

The three SPDRs will cease trading as of March 18, with liquidation occurring by March 31.

Vanguard Changes Dividend Distributions

Vanguard said in a recent press release that it is changing how it distributes dividends for 24 of its index funds. The below list of funds will move to quarterly dividend distributions as of the third quarter of 2015. The funds are currently on an annual distribution schedule. (The starred funds do not have an ETF share class.)

• Vanguard Consumer Discretionary Index Fund
• Vanguard Consumer Staples Index Fund
• Vanguard Energy Index Fund
• Vanguard Extended Market Index Fund
• Vanguard FTSE Social Index Fund*
• Vanguard Health Care Index Fund
• Vanguard Industrials Index Fund
• Vanguard Information Technology Index Fund
• Vanguard Materials Index Fund
• Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Index Fund
• Vanguard Mid-Cap Index Fund
• Vanguard Mid-Cap Value Index Fund
• Vanguard Russell 2000 Growth Index Fund
• Vanguard Russell 2000 Index Fund
• Vanguard Russell 2000 Value Index Fund
• Vanguard S&P Mid-Cap 400 Index Fund
• Vanguard S&P Small-Cap 600 Growth Index Fund
• Vanguard S&P Small-Cap 600 Value Index Fund
• Vanguard Small-Cap Growth Index Fund
• Vanguard Small-Cap Index Fund
• Vanguard Small-Cap Value Index Fund
• Vanguard Tax-Managed Capital Appreciation Fund*
• Vanguard Tax-Managed Small-Cap Fund*
• Vanguard Telecommunication Services Index Fund

Vanguard added that quarterly distributions are a standard practice for the asset classes covered by the funds and that the quarterly dividend income stream was more in line with investor expectations. It stands to reason that investors concerned about income would prefer a fund that makes distributions with a greater frequency.