iShares Shutters 8 ETFs
The issuer tends to close groups of its ETFs deemed to no longer be of interest to investors during August.
Yesterday, iShares shuttered eight of its funds, five of which were currency hedged. The closures were announced in June. The issuer has a habit of closing down ETFs in August.
The affected ETFs involve the following:
- iShares Edge MSCI Min Vol Europe ETF (EUMV)
- iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Australia ETF (HAUD)
- iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Italy ETF (HEWI)
- iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Switzerland ETF (HEWL)
- iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Spain ETF (HEWP)
- iShares Currency Hedged MSCI South Korea ETF (HEWY)
- iShares Europe Developed Real Estate ETF (IFEU)
- iShares Edge MSCI Min Vol Japan ETF (JPMV)
Currency-hedged strategies have fallen out of favor, with flows for the closing ETFs either very muted or negative for the past few years. The same holds true for the flows for JPMV, IFEU and EUMV.
Along with other recent closures by Principal and Barclays, the iShares shutdowns bring the total number of ETF closures for 2020 to a record-setting 173. That’s also more than the number of launches, which stands at 158 for the year so far, an unprecedented situation that has been the norm for the last couple months.
With more than three months left to the year, we could see the number of shutdowns grow even more.
Contact Heather Bell at [email protected]
