Zombie ETFs Liquidated at Record Pace as Fee War Starts to Sting
- It was the busiest-ever first half for U.S. ETF closures
- Single-country and high-fee funds on the chopping board
Pedestrians walk along Wall Street near the New York Stock Exchange.
Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg
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It’s getting more and more difficult to prevail in the crowded market for exchange-traded funds.
A record 58 ETFs were liquidated in the six months through June, marking the industry’s worst-ever start to a year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Multiple closures from Invesco Ltd., the fourth-largest U.S. issuer, and WisdomTree Investments Inc. pushed the number beyond the previous all-time high for the first six months of a year, reached in 2009 when 44 funds shuttered in the midst of the financial crisis.