Guggenheim to Shutter 9 ETFs

Guggenheim Investments, the eighth-largest U.S. ETF sponsor, said it will close nine low-asset exchange traded funds. The announcement was made after the close of U.S. markets Friday. The average size of the nine closing ETFs is $16 million, for a total of $144 million, equaling about one percent of of Guggenheim Investments' total $13.7 billion in exchange-traded assets under management as of January 31,

. The last day of trading for the ETFs is expected to be Friday, March 15, 2013. Coming on the heels of a record number of closures for the exchange-traded products industry in 2012, three ETFs and one ETN were closed in January. None of those were Guggenheim products. Guggenheim will close the Wilshire 4500 Completion ETF (NYSE: WKSP), the Wilshire 5000 Total Market ETF (NYSE:

), the Guggenheim Inverse 2x S&P 500(R) ETF (NYSE:

) and the Guggenheim 2x S&P 500(R) ETF (NYSE:

), among others. Perhaps in what can be viewed as a surprise given investors' current hunger for dividends and yield, the Guggenheim ABC High Dividend ETF (NYSE:

) will also be closed. ABCS currently yields 5.34 percent. Guggenheim will also close three of its equal-weight products, though the firm remains one of the dominant purveyors of such ETFs. Those closures are the Guggenheim MSCI EAFE Equal Weight ETF (NYSE:

), the Guggenheim S&P MidCap 400(R) Equal Weight ETF (NYSE:

) and the Guggenheim S&P SmallCap 600(R) Equal Weight ETF (NYSE:

). The Guggenheim Airline ETF (NYSE:

) will also be closed. Barring a new introduction from another issuer, FAA's departure means there will no longer be an ETF devoted to the airline industry. Direxion closed a rival airline ETF in late 2011. For more on ETFs, click

.