Thursday's ETF Winners & Losers

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

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

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

The Internet Architecture HOLDRs (IAH Quote) was another of the few winners Thursday, as holding Apple (AAPL Quote) 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 Quote), Southern Co. (SO Quote), FPL Group (FPL Quote) and PG&E (PCG Quote) were losing 1.7% or more.

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

The United States Natural Gas (UNG Quote) 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.