Wednesday's ETF Winners & Losers

Housing- and real estate-related exchange-traded funds were surging during Wednesday's winning session, one day after the Federal Reserve said that the correction in housing is ongoing but that the economy is likely to expand at a moderate pace.

Individual names were jumping. Hovnanian (HOV Quote) soared 19%, and Toll Brothers (TOL Quote), D.R. Horton (DHI Quote), Centex (CTX Quote) and KB Home (KBH Quote) were all higher by 5% or more.

The iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction (ITB Quote) was rising $2.07, or 7.8%, to $28.63. The Ultra Real Estate ProShares (URE Quote) climbed $2.42, or 5.7%, to $45.22. The SPDR S&P Homebuilders (XHB Quote) was adding $1.54, or 5.9%, to $27.87.

Bundled securities tracking Asian markets were also jumping after several indices gained ground overnight. Hong Kong's Hang Sang rose 2.9%, the Nikkei Index added 0.6% and Tokyo's Topix Index gained 0.5%.

The iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index(FXI Quote) was gaining $5.87, or 4.5%, to $136.14. The iShares MSCI Singapore Index (EWS Quote) was higher by 59 cents, or 4.6%, to $13.50. The SPDR S&P China (GXC Quote) was recently up $3.08, or 4.5%, at $71.56.

ETFs tracking regional banks were notching another strong session. Among individual names, Washington Mutual (WM Quote), Valley National Bancorp (VLY Quote), Colonial Bancgroup (CNB Quote) and PNC Financial Services (PNC Quote) were all gaining 3% or more.

The KBW Regional Banking (KRE Quote) ETF was higher by $1.75, or 4.1%, to $44.50. The iShares Dow Jones U.S. Regional Banks (IAT Quote) added $1.04, or 2.3%, to $47.25.

On the other hand, bundled securities following U.S. Treasuries were among the few losers of the day, as traders made their way out of bonds and back into equities.

The 10-year note was down 18/32 in price, yielding 4.84%, and the 30-year bond was tumbling 1 1/32, yielding 5.00%.

The iShares Lehman 20+ Year Treasury Bond (TLT Quote) was down 91 cents, or 1%, to $86.31. The iShares Lehman 7-10 Year Treasury Bond (IEF Quote) fell by 50 cents, or 0.6%, to $81.80. The SPDR Lehman Long Term Treasury (TLO Quote) was lower 27 cents, or 0.5%, to $50.48.