Thursday's ETF Winners & Losers

The B2B Internet HOLDRs (BHH) exchange-traded fund was soaring Thursday, thanks to a buyout of its biggest holding, Checkfree (CKFR).

Fiserv (FISV) announced an all-cash bid to acquire Checkfree for $4.4 billion, or $48 a share. Shares of Checkfree were recently surging 24%. Recently, the B2B Internet HOLDRs was jumping 35 cents, or 18.9%, to $2.19.

ETFs tracking REITs were rebounding after steep losses during the previous session. The iShares FTSE NAREIT Mortgage REITs (REM) was higher by $1.99, or 6.1%, to $34.72. The iShares FTSE NAREIT Retail (RTL) was adding $1.57, or 4.1%, to $39.75. The Ultra Real Estate ProShares (URE) tacked on 93 cents, or 2.2%, to $42.84.

Housing-related ETFs were also higher, reversing declines from Wednesday's trading. Beazer Homes (BZH), which fell by as much as 40% the previous session on rumors a liquidity problem would lead to a bankruptcy filing, was recently up more than 10%.

The iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction (ITB) was climbing 34 cents, or 1.3%, to $26.41. The SPDR S&P Homebuilders (XHB) was up 27 cents, or 1%, to $26.57.

On the other hand, energy-related funds were losing ground. During the previous session, crude oil touched an intraday record of $78.77 a barrel before dropping 2.1% to close lower. Natural gas was losing 22 cents to $6.13 per million British thermal units during the current session following the latest report on inventories from the Energy Department.

Recently, the Ultra Oil & Gas ProShares (DIG) was falling $3.12, or 3.2%, to $93.84. The United States Natural Gas (UNG) was down $1.58, or 3.9%, to $38.98. The iShares S&P Global Energy (IXC) was losing $2.14, or 1.7%, to $126.35. The Vanguard Energy (VDE) was lower by $1.57, or 1.6%, to $99.02.

Meanwhile, bundled securities tracking Chinese markets were also lower, despite big gains in China's CSI 300 Index overnight.

The iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index (FXI) sank $1.87, or 1.4%, to $135.33. The SPDR S&P Emerging Asia Pacific (GMF) was easing by 46 cents, or 0.6%, to $75.27. The SPDR S&P China (GXC) was giving back 55 cents, or 0.8%, to $71.35.

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