Dion's Weekly ETF Winners and Losers

The S&P 500 Index hit a new high for 2009 last week, reaching 1044 before falling back slightly on Friday. The four-day gain for the index during the holiday-shortened week was 2.6% and the market appears to have broken out of its monthlong sideways churning.

The big story of the week was gold, again, after it breached $1,000. It failed to match the large two-day gains seen during the previous week, but Market Vectors Gold Miners(GDX Quote) did add 2.4%.

Winners

United States Natural Gas(UNG Quote) +11.0%

iPath Natural Gas(GAZ Quote) +11.8%

First Trust ISE-Revere Natural Gas(FCG Quote) +13.3%

Natural gas rebounded from the previous week's beating to become the best performer last week. Shorts piled into the market when contango was deepest and they paid for it with a short squeeze that saw futures prices rip higher. On Friday, however, the bears clawed back and pushed the futures below $3.

The premiums on UNG and GAS were both 15% at the close on Friday. Investors interested in more info on these products can check out my Friday article.

Market Vectors Solar(KWT Quote) +10.4%

First Solar(FSLR Quote) won a contract with the Chinese government to build a 2-gigawatt solar panel field in Inner Mongolia this week, and the news lit up the solar sector. With almost 9% of assets in FSLR, KWT was able to take advantage of the move. The fund is also heavily invested in Chinese solar, with nearly 10% in Suntech Power(STP Quote), and another 10% split between Trina(TSL Quote) and Yingli(YGE Quote).

Market Vectors Russia(RSX Quote) +10.2%

RSX followed oil prices higher last week and then bucked Friday's drop in crude oil prices. On Friday, Vladimir Putin indicated he did not want to see the ruble strengthen too much. Currency fluctuations have caused headaches for Russia in the past.