This week shaped out to be quite dismal for equity markets as investors were reminded of looming eurozone debt drama and the painfully slow road to recovery at home. A fairly weak start to corporate earnings season only added to the already towering list of uncertainties plaguing the global economy as aluminum giant Alcoa and semiconductor manufacturer Applied Materials both missed analyst estimates. Amidst another chaotic week on Wall Street, IndexIQ made the announcement it would soon close the doors on its small cap South Korea ETF while United States Commodity Funds filed for its first currency fund [see also What Are Options? The Ultimate Beginners' Guide].

IndexIQ, perhaps best known for its Hedge Multi-Strategy Tracker ETF (QAI), announced it will be shuttering the doors on its IQ South Korea Small Cap ETF (SKOR). The company is pulling the plug on SKOR because the fund has failed to attract significant assets; this ETF boasts a paltry $5.9 million in assets under management since launching in April of 2010. Last year, IndexIQ also closed the door on several other small cap ETFs focusing on Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan. In the regulatory paperwork filed with the SEC, the issuer stated that SKOR will close to new investors and stop trading on the NYSE Arca on August 17th of this year; the note also mentioned the fund would be liquidated on or before August 22nd [see also Fallacy Of International ETFs].

IndexIQ is also making strides to beef up its current lineup of offerings as the issuer filed paperwork with the SEC seeking permission to launch fixed-income products. In this recent SEC filing, the issuer mentions the possibility of debuting a fund that features a mix of both equity and debt holdings, and also potentially having to use third-party indexes if deemed necessary.

Denver-based U.S. Commodity Funds, perhaps best known for running the United States Oil Fund (USO), has filed plans with the SEC to launch a currency-focused ETF [see SEC Filing]:

• U.S. Golden Currency Fund (HARD): This futures-based fund will offer equal weighted exposure to a basket of five currencies at a time; its underlying portfolio will be rebalanced monthly and holdings will be selected annually from a list of the 25 most actively traded global currencies. The filing also noted that the U.S. dollar will not be eligible for inclusion since it will be the base currency for the strategy employed [see also King Dollar ETFdb Portfolio].

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Disclosure: No positions at time of writing.

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