Thursday's ETF Winners & Losers

A giant deal in the hotel space boosted real estate exchange-traded funds Thursday, after Blackstone Group (BX) bid $26 billion for Hilton Hotels(HLT).

Shares of Hilton were soaring 26% Thursday afternoon. Other hotel stocks were jumping as well. Starwood Hotels (HOT) rose 7.1%, Marriott (MAR) was adding 7% and Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) gained 4.2%.

The Ultra Real Estate ProShares (URE) was rising $1.61, or 3.1%, to $53.71. The DJ Wilshire REIT ETF (RWR) was adding $1.40, or 1.4%, to $83.98. The Vanguard REIT Index ETF (VNQ) was higher by $1.18, or 1.6%, to $73.57.

The Internet Architecture HOLDRs (IAH) was another of the few winners Thursday, as holding Apple (AAPL) jumped to an all-time record of $131.75, nearly a week after the release of the company's much-heralded iPhone. The ETF was recently up 25 cents, or 0.5%, to $48.48.

On the losing side, bundled securities tracking utilities were among the worst performers of the session. Among individual names, Edison International (EIX), Southern Co. (SO), FPL Group (FPL) and PG&E (PCG) were losing 1.7% or more.

The Ultra Utilities ProShares (UPW) was losing $2.14, or 2.6%, to $80.70. The WisdomTree International Utilities ETF (DBU) eased 52 cents, or 1.6%, to $31.57. The Utilities Select Sector SPDR (XLU) was down 60 cents, or 1.5%, to $39.55. The Utility HOLDRs (UTH) was falling $1.91, or 1.3%, to $142.69.

The United States Natural Gas (UNG) was also slumping, as natural gas was lower by 3.4 cents to $6.71. The ETF was losing 70 cents, or 1.6%, to $42.41.

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