However, today also brought the year’s first ETF casualties: Fund company FaithShares shuttered four of its five “values funds”:  FaithShares Baptist Values (NYSE: FZB), FaithShares Catholic Values (NYSE: FCV), FaithShares Lutheran Values (NYSE: FKL) and FaithShares Methodist Values (NYSE: FMV) will cease trading today and enter liquidation.

FaithShares Christian Values (NYSE: FOC) will continue to trade, so the FaithShares Advisors hasn’t pulled out of the game completely.

But for every one fund that closes, two more are waiting in the wings to take its place.

What’s New

A longtime leader in currency trading, Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) has launched five currency-hedged international equity ETFs. All five funds are based on indexes provided by MSCI (NYSE: MSCI) and are structured to cancel out fluctuations in both the US dollar and foreign currencies, resulting in pure equity exposure.

Here’s a rundown of these new funds and their expense ratios:

• Db-X MSCI EAFE Currency-Hedged Equity Fund (NYSE: DBEF), 0.35 percent;
• Db-X MSCI Canada Currency-Hedged Equity Fund (NYSE: DBCN), 0.50 percent;
• Db-X MSCI Japan Currency-Hedged Equity Fund (NYSE: DBJP), 0.50 percent;
• Db-X MSCI Brazil Currency-Hedged Equity Fund (NYSE: DBBR), 0.60 percent; and
• Db-X MSCI Emerging Markets Currency-Hedged Equity Fund (NYSE: DBEM), 0.65 percent.

If you’re bearish on the US dollar, currency-hedged funds probably aren’t for you. One of the major benefits of diversifying internationally is reducing your exposure to the greenback. But if you’re one of the hardy few who are bullish–or largely agnostic–about the dollar’s prospects, currency-hedged funds will prove useful.

Potential investors should be aware of one potential drawback to putting money in these funds. Although these ETFs hold primarily large-cap stocks, the futures that the fund uses to hedge currency exposures could create a taxable event when they’re rolled and could lead to unexpected capital distributions.

That caveat aside, the expense ratios are extremely fair, and the funds appear to be solid.

Two funds that also launched last week play into increasing investor demand for dividends. With interest rates at or near record lows and the health of many economies in question, many investors are looking for the dependable payouts offered by steady dividends.

Guggenheim Funds launched Guggenheim ABC High Dividend (NYSE: ABCS), which will replicate its BNY Mellon ABC Index benchmark. Accordingly, the ETF’s portfolio will comprise about 30 securities drawn from US-listed common stocks and American depositary receipts of companies based in Australia and Brazil as well as locally-listed shares in Australia and Canada.

The fund’s international exposure focuses on three resource-rich countries that stand to benefit from the developing world’s rising demand for raw materials.

Guggenheim ABC High Dividend ETF offers exposure to an attractive mix of large-cap materials companies and smaller producers that don’t show up in many indexes. This combination, coupled with a mélange of utility and telecom stocks, should offer investors a dependable yield. An expense ratio of 0.65 percent ensures that fees won’t erode too much of your regular income payments.

Global X Management also launched a dividend-focused fund this week, Global X SuperDividend (NYSE: SDIV). This equally-weighted fund will hold positions in the world’s 100 highest-yielding equities. The fund will be rebalanced every six months to adjust for changes in yields.

A lack of geographic boundaries vastly expands the ETF’s opportunity set, ensuring that investors have exposure to the full universe of high-yield equities. Monthly distributions are another plus.

An expense ratio of 0.79 percent is on the high side, though it’s not a deal breaker. Potential investors should also note that the fund’s stock selection process doesn’t include any qualitative screens, which could lead to volatility in the fund’s net asset value.