Wednesday's ETF Winners & Losers

Updated from 1:00 p.m. EDT with new stock prices

Exchange-traded funds tracking technology names were among the worst performers of a losing session Wednesday, following sharp declines for shares of Amazon.com (AMZN Quote), Altera (ALTR Quote) and Broadcom (BRCM Quote).

After the previous close, Internet retailer Amazon.com beat third-quarter forecasts by a penny as revenue jumped 41% from a year ago. However, gross margin declined when compared with the second quarter, and shares were dropping 11.99%.

Bundled securities tracking the Internet sector were sent tumbling. The Internet HOLDRs (HHH Quote) was falling $2.35, or 3.49%, to $64.90. The First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index (FDN Quote) was down 65 cents, or 2.34%, to $27.13. The Internet Infrastructure HOLDRs (IIH Quote) was off 15 cents, or 2.61%, to $5.59.

Amazon's loss also hit retail ETFs. The SPDR S&P Retail (XRT Quote) was losing 22 cents, or 0.58%, to $37.85. The Retail HOLDRs (RTH Quote) slumped 50 cents, or 0.51%, to $97.40. The PowerShares Dynamic Retail (PMR Quote) was up, however, 7 cents, or 0.41%, to $17.24.

Also following Tuesday's close, chipmakers Altera and Broadcom delivered poor earnings reports, sending both stocks spiraling lower by 15% or more.

The Ultra Semiconductor ProShares (USD Quote) was losing $4.89, or 5.62%, to $82.11. The iShares S&P GTSI Semiconductor (IGW Quote) was sinking by $2.06, or 3.06%, to $65.16. The PowerShares Dynamic Semiconductors (PSI Quote) shed 46 cents, or 2.45%, to $18.35.

Financial-related ETFs were also among the worst decliners of the day on the back of Merrill Lynch's (MER Quote) greater-than-expected $7.9 billion writedown due to the credit crisis that plague financial markets during the summer. Merrill swung to a third-quarter continuing-operations loss of $2.24 billion, or $2.85 a share, from a year-ago profit of $3.05 billion, or $3.14 a share.

The Ultra Financials ProShares (UYG Quote) was falling by $3.70, or 6.89%, to $50. The KBW Regional Banking (KRE Quote) ETF was down 65 cents, or 1.58%, to $40.55. The PowerShares Dynamic Banking (PJB Quote) was off 10 cents, or 0.48%, to $20.83.

Bundled securities tracking homebuilders were hit after the National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales fell a greater-than-expected 8% to 5.04 million annualized units in September, well below expectations. The report comes a day after Centex (CTX Quote) swung to a fiscal second-quarter loss.

The SPDR S&P Homebuilders (XHB Quote) was barely up 1 cent, or 0.05%, to $22.21 after falling earlier in the day. The iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction (ITB Quote) also recovered, up 30 cents, or 1.48%, to $20.56 after being down earlier.

Oil and gas-related ETFs were among the only real winners of the session, though, following a bullish report from the Energy Department that showed that crude stocks unexpectedly dropped by 5.3 million barrels last week. Gasoline and distillate inventories also declined, compared with expectations for slight gains. Recently, the December front-month crude contract was up 60 cents to $87.10 a barrel.

The United States Oil (USO Quote) ETF was adding $2.15, or 3.27%, to $67.98. The iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Index (OIL Quote) was higher by $1.39, or 2.84%, to $50.28. The PowerShares DB Oil (DBO Quote) was up 36 cents, or 1.16%, to $31.35.