Tuesday's ETF Winners & Losers

Exchange-traded funds tracking the homebuilding sector were among the worst performers of Tuesday's session, following negative earnings and existing-home sales news.

Before the session began, Lennar (LEN Quote) posted a third-quarter loss of $513.9 million, or $3.25 a share, reversing a year-ago profit due to write-offs and adjustments. Revenue plummeted to $2.34 billion from $4.18 billion, falling short of consensus estimates.

Shortly after, the National Association of Realtors said that existing-home sales fell 4.3% in August to 5.5 million annualized units, as expected. Existing home sales are now at their lowest level in five years, while inventories of single-family homes are at their highest in 18 years.

The iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction (ITB Quote) eased 78 cents, or 3.7%, to $20.45. The SPDR S&P Homebuilders (XHB Quote) lost 57 cents, or 2.6%, to $21.52.

Bundled securities following retailers were also under pressure. Home improvement retailer Lowe's (LOW Quote) issued a profit warning after the last close, saying it now expects fiscal-year earnings at the low end or slightly below its previous guidance, due to regional drought conditions hurting its outdoor offerings.

Target (TGT Quote), meanwhile, reduced its forecast for September same-store sales growth to a range between 1.5% and 2.5%, compared with the previous forecast of 4% to 6%. The stock dropped $2.36, or 3.7%, to $61.94.

The SPDR S&P Retail (XRT Quote) was losing 94 cents, or 2.4%, to $38.34. The Retail HOLDRs (RTH Quote) was down $2.18, or 2.2%, to $99.21. The PowerShares Dynamic Retail (PMR Quote) eased 28 cents, or 1.6%, to $17.79.

Oil-related ETFs were also declining as crude oil slid $1.47 to $79.48 a barrel. The Ultra Oil & Gas ProShares (DIG Quote) shed $2.64, or 2.4%, to $109.30. The Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE Quote) was off $1.34, or 1.8%, to $74.22. The Oil Service HOLDRs (OIH Quote) was down $3.13, or 1.6%, to $190.19.

On the other hand, technology-related ETFs were among the few winners. Microsoft (MSFT Quote) was one of the big individual winners after The Wall Street Journal reported that the software giant is considering buying a stake in the social-networking site Facebook for $300 million to $500 million.

The software giant is also celebrating the launch of the video game Halo 3, a title that's expected to boost sales of the Xbox 360 console.

The Ultra Technology ProShares (ROM Quote) was up $1.12, or 1.3%, at $84.99. The iShares S&P GSTI Software (IGV Quote) was adding 51 cents, or 1.1%, to $49.12. The Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK Quote) rose 23 cents, or 0.9%, to $26.88.