Dion's Weekly ETF Winners and Losers

Winners

iShares MSCI Sweden Index(EWD Quote) +7.69%

iShares MSCI Germany Index Fund(EWG Quote) +5.73%

iShares MSCI Austria Investable Market(EWO Quote) +5.44%

iShares MSCI France Index(EWQ Quote) +5.12%

iShares MSCI Belgium Investable Market(EWK Quote) +4.83%

The ETFs following the markets of European Union member nations were able to come off of last week's lows to rise to the top of the list of this week's winners. The gains of these nations come as a bit of a surprise after this week's negative unemployment data.

This week, the Eurozone announced that due to the global credit crunch its unemployment rate had hit its ten-year peak of 9.5% in May. Sweden, the top gainer among this group also surprised everyone late this week when it announced it was dropping its rates from 0.50% to 0.25%, the lowest levels since 1907.

As the EU attempts to find a bottom in the global economic crisis, the funds that follow its members' markets will continue to experience volatility. I have written articles on some of these nations including Belgium and Austria.

PowerShares Dynamic Consumer Staples(PSL Quote) +3.02%

PowerShares Dynamic Food & Beverage(PBJ Quote) +2.93%

iShares Dow Jones US Consumer Goods(IYK Quote) +2.74%

Consumer goods ETFs surged this week as shining news from giants Kraft(KFT Quote), General Mills(GIS Quote), and Yum! Brands(YUM Quote) helped push the aggregate U.S. market up at the start of the new quarter. Kraft saw the biggest gains in the Dow, rising 5 percent on news that the company will be opening factories in Russia. Yum! Brands' surged when Goldman Sachs raised the company's rating from buy to neutral on hopes that business in China and the U.S. will improve.