ETF Odds & Ends: State Street Fund Targets Liquidity

Launches were fairly muted during the week, with just four new products debuting. Two of those were products that had converted from mutual funds and rolled out as ETFs on Monday.  

Among the other launches was a new corporate bond ETF from State Street Global Advisors that prioritizes liquidity. The SPDR MarketAxess Investment Grade 400 Corporate Bond ETF (LQIG) tracks an index of 400 dollar-denominated investment-grade corporate bonds selected for their above-average liquidity relative to their peer group, according to the prospectus.  

LQIG comes with an expense ratio of 0.07% and lists on the NYSE Arca.  

Name Changes 

Also during the week, two ETFs underwent some renovations.  

On Tuesday, the Legg Mason SmallCap Quality Value ETF (SQLV) was renamed the Royce Quant SmallCap Quality Value ETF, and the previously actively managed fund adopted the Royce Small-Cap Quality Value Index as its underlying benchmark. 

On Wednesday, the First Trust Hedged BuyWrite Income ETF (FTLB) changed its name to the First Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF and adopted FTQI as its ticker.  

Share Splits 

Finally, later this month, eight ProShares ETFs will undergo share splits.  

On May 26, the ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Crude Oil (UCO) will undergo a 4-for-1 forward share split, while the ProShares UltraShort Yen (YCS) will undergo a 2-for-1 forward split. That same day, the ProShares UltraShort Bloomberg Natural Gas (KOLD) will see a 1-for-4 reverse split, while the ProShares UltraShort Bloomberg Crude Oil (SCO) will see a 1-for-5 reverse split.  

The following day, May 27, the ProShares Ultra Oil & Gas (DIG) and the ProShares Ultra Basic Materials (UYM) will both undergo 4-for-1 forward splits. At the same time, the ProShares UltraShort MSCI Brazil Capped (BZQ) and the ProShares UltraShort Consumer Services (SCC) will see 1-for-2 reverse splits.  

Contact Heather Bell at [email protected]