Wednesday's ETF Winners & Losers

Telecom- and broadband-related exchange-traded funds were among the best performers of Wednesday's session, one that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average jump to an all-time intraday record.

Even though Sprint Nextel (S Quote) fell short of estimates after reporting first-quarter earnings, the stock was higher by 3.2%. Meanwhile, Nortel (NT Quote) was surging nearly 10% after the company said late Tuesday that first-quarter revenue will top expectations.

The Broadband HOLDRs (BDH Quote) ETF was recently up 29 cents, or 1.8%, to $16.24. The Vanguard Telecom Services (VOX Quote) ETF was gaining $1.25, or 1.6%, to $78.88. The Wireless HOLDRs (WMH Quote) was adding 99 cent, or 1.6%, to $63.25. The PowerShares Dynamic Telecom & Wireless (PTE Quote) ETF was higher by 27 cents, or 1.3%, to $20.15.

The HealthShares Emerging Cancer (HHJ Quote) was another of the day's winners. Among individual biotech names, Dendreon (DNDN Quote) rose 7%, BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (BCRX Quote) was adding 6.6%, and Cell Genesys (CEGE Quote) was higher by 4.3%.

The ETF was recently up 43 cents, or 1.7%, to $26.09.

Bundled securities tracking oil exploration and production were also higher, despite a tumble in crude prices. Recently, the front-month June contract was down 92 cents to $63.48 a barrel. Crude oil prices have now fallen more than 4% since Friday's close.

The Dow Jones U.S. Select Oil Exploration & Production Index (IEO Quote) was adding $1.01, or 1.8%, to $56. The SPDR Oil & Gas Exploration & Production (XOP Quote) ETF was recently up 71 cents, or 1.6%, to $44.24.

On the losing side, many energy and services ETFs were falling. The ProShares DB Energy (DBE Quote) was losing 1.5% at $27.57. The United States Oil (USO Quote) ETF shed 1% to $49.88. The iPath Goldman Sachs Crude Oil Index (OIL Quote) ETF eased 1% to $36.51.