Thursday's ETF Winners & Losers

The Broadband HOLDRs (BDH) exchange-traded fund was one of the best performers of Thursday's session, aided by a broker upgrade of one of its main holdings.

Earlier, Lehman Brothers raised its rating for Motorola (MOT) to overweight from equal-weight, citing improvements in the company's phone unit. Shares of Motorola were adding 2.7%

The Broadband HOLDRs was higher by 22 cents, or 1.5%, at $14.90.

Other tech-related ETFs were also trading higher, benefiting not only from Motorola's gain but increases in Apple (AAPL), Cisco (CSCO), Applied Materials (AMAT) and SanDisk (SNDK), all of which helped the Nasdaq Composite overcome early weakness.

The First Trust Nasdaq 100 Tech Index (QTEC) was up 45 cents, or 2.1%, to $22.06. The Ultra Semiconductor ProShares (USD) ETF was gaining $1.37, or 1.7%, to $84.51. The Ultra Technology ProShares (ROM) ETF rose $1.10, or 1.4%, to $79.

On the other hand, financial and bank-related bundled securities continued to weaken. Related stocks were under pressure on fears that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will offer no solace to liquidity issues when he delivers a speech on monetary policy on Friday.

The Ultra Financials ProShares (UYG) ETF was losing 91 cents, or 1.7%, to $53.82. The iShares S&P Global Financials (IXG) ETF was down $1.40, or 1.6%, to $85.02. The iShares Dow Jones U.S. Regional Banks (IAT) ETF was off 68 cents, or 1.5%, to $45.88.

Bundled securities following retailers were also weaker due to a downgrade and earnings news out of the sector.

Sears Holdings (SHLD) said after the last close that both net income and sales fell during the second quarter. Results beat the Thomson First Call estimate on a per-share basis, but revenue was lower than expected.

Meanwhile, Merrill Lynch downgraded the world's largest retailer Wal-Mart (WMT) to sell from neutral, citing shrinking margins.

The SPDR S&P Retail (XRT) ETF was lower by 49 cents, or 1.2%, to $39.19. The PowerShares Dynamic Retail (PMR) ETF was sliding by 14 cents, or 0.8%, to $18.19. The Retail HOLDRs (RTH) ETF was off 56 cents, or 0.6%, to $99.99.

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