Thursday's ETF Winners & Losers

Exchange-traded funds tracking homebuilders were among the worst performers of a mixed session Thursday, as traders booked profits on housing stocks that have surged so far this week.

Recently, Hovnanian (HOV), Toll Brothers (TOL), D.R. Horton (DHI), Lennar (LEN) and Centex (CTX) were all dropping.

The iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction (ITB) was down 79 cents, or 3.5%, to $21.73. The SPDR S&P Homebuilders (XHB) fell 65 cents, or 2.8%, to $22.90.

Oil-related ETFs were also on the decline, as crude continued its multi-session freefall that has lopped nearly 4% off prices. Lately, the November front-month crude contract was shedding 14 cents to $79.80.

The Ultra Oil & Gas ProShares (DIG) was losing $1, or 0.9%, to $109.18. The iShares Dow Jones U.S. Oil Equipment Index (IEZ) was down 45 cents, or 0.7%, to $63.99. The Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) slid 44 cents, or 0.6%, to $74.03.

Bundled securities tracking the chip sector were also under pressure, a day after Micron's (MU) disappointing quarter and Merrill Lynch's bearish coverage of Intel (INTC), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Nvidia (NVDA).

The Ultra Semiconductor ProShares (USD) eased 89 cents, or 1%, to $86.86. The Semiconductor HOLDRs (SMH) was down 19 cents, or 0.5%, to $37.97. The iShares S&P GSTI Semiconductor (IGW) was shedding 36 cents, or 0.5%, to $67.17.

On the other hand, utility-related ETFs were among the few winners. Among individual names, FirstEnergy (FE), Exelon (EXC), Entergy (ETR) and Edison International (EIX) were all higher.

The Ultra Utilities ProShares (UPW) was up $1.12, or 1.4%, to $82.44. The Utilities HOLDRs (UTH) was rising $1.35, or 0.9%, to $147.75. The PowerShares FTSE RAFI Utilities (PRFU) added 49 cents, or 0.9%, to $58.02.