Thursday's ETF Winners & Losers

Exchange-traded funds tracking gold and silver were among the best performers of Thursday's session, as commodity futures soared.

Recently, gold prices were jumping by $15.80 to $745.30 an ounce. Silver was surging 45 cents to $13.56 an ounce. Copper and other precious metals were also higher.

The iShares Silver Trust (SLV Quote) was climbing $3.83, or 3%, to $132.51. The PowerShares DB Silver (DBS Quote) was up 64 cents, or 2.5%, to $26.15. The Market Vectors Gold Miners (GDX Quote) ETF was higher by $1.59, or 3.6%, to $45.62. The PowerShares DB Gold (DGL Quote) added 42 cents, or 1.5%, to $28.79.

Semiconductor-related ETFs were also higher. Chipmaker Cree (CREE Quote) jumped 6%, while Advanced Micro Devices (AMD Quote), Texas Instruments (TXN Quote) and Analog Devices (ADI Quote) were all higher.

The Ultra Semiconductor ProShares (USD Quote) was up 62 cents, or 0.7%, to $87.60. The SPDR S&P Semiconductor (XSD Quote) gained 43 cents, or 0.8%, to $55.14.

On the flip side, bundled securities tracking homebuilders were among the worst performers. Among individual names, D.R. Horton (DHI Quote), Lennar (LEN Quote), Toll Brothers (TOL Quote) and Centex (CTX Quote) were losing 4% or more.

The SPDR S&P Homebuilders (XHB Quote) was falling $1.01, or 4.1%, to $23.81. The iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction (ITB Quote) was shedding 74 cents, or 3.2%, to $22.74.

Retail ETFs were under pressure after Circuit City (CC Quote) posted a fiscal second-quarter loss and predicted a weak third quarter. The electronics retailer dropped almost 17%.

The SPDR S&P Retail (XRT Quote) was down 77 cents, or 1.9%, to $39.91. The Retail HOLDRs (RTH Quote) was lower by $1.40, or 1.4%, to $102.30. The PowerShares Dynamic Retail (PMR Quote) was losing 25 cents, or 1.3%, to $18.38.