Invesco PowerShares and Select Sector SPDRs announced a settlement under which Invesco PowerShares will voluntarily change the ticker symbols of its nine S&P SmallCap Sector ETFs. The changes are aimed at making the PowerShares S&P SmallCap Sector ETF tickers more distinguishable from the Select Sector SPDR tickers.

The PowerShares SmallCap Sector ETFs will begin trading under the new tickers in late March, 2011; all other attributes of the products will remain unchanged.

“ETFs have proven to be an extremely valuable tool for sector investing, as indicated by the investor interest in the sector ETFs of both Invesco PowerShares and Select Sector SPDRs,” noted Ben Fulton, Invesco PowerShares managing director of global ETFs.” We have worked closely with the Select Sector SPDR Board and understand their perspective on the matter. We were amenable to their proposal because the PowerShares S&P Small Cap Sectors have filled a significant gap in the market and have been very well received by investors,” added Fulton.

“Both parties agree that in the interests of investors, the best course of action is to work together to make the changes,” noted Dan Dolan of Select Sector SPDRs.

“We appreciate Invesco PowerShares’ willingness to work with Select Sector SPDRs and are eager to move ahead as we continue to provide investors powerful ways to express their investment convictions on sectors of the U.S. stock market,” added Dolan.

The Sector SPDRs follow the nine S&P 500 industry sectors including consumer staples (NYSE: XLP), consumer discretionary (NYSE: XLY), energy (NYSE: XLE), health care (NYSE: XLV), industrials (NYSE: XLI), financials (NYSE: XLF), materials (NYSE: XLB), technology (NYSE: XLK) and utilities (NYSE: XLU).

In related news, the Sector SPDRs recently cut annual expense ratios from 0.21% to 0.20%.

The new tickers on the PowerShares SmallCap Sector ETFs and on their intraday NAVs will go into effect before the end of March, 2011. The tickers of the fund’s underlying indexes will remain the same. The funds will maintain their listing on the NASDAQ.

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