This Week's ETF Winners & Losers
01/04/08 - 04:31 PM EST
Exchange-traded funds tracking homebuilders were the worst performers of a holiday-shortened week following soft housing data and more fears of an economic slowdown.
The iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction (ITB Quote - Cramer on ITB - Stock Picks) ETF gave back 11.2% to $15.32. The SPDR S&P Homebuilders (XHB Quote - Cramer on XHB - Stock Picks) ETF lost 10.3% to end the week at $16.92. On Monday, the National Association of Realtors said existing-home sales rose 0.4% to an annualized rate of 5 million units last month, as expected. Still, sales were down 20% from a year ago. The inventory of homes on the market fell 3.6% last month to a 10.3-month supply. Additionally, a weak jobs report Friday sank homebuilder stocks. The Labor Department said the U.S. economy added 18,000 jobs in December, well short of economists' expectation of 70,000. The unemployment rate jumped to 5% from 4.7% in November, surpassing forecasts of 4.8%. The dismal jobs report highlighted the recent economic slowdown and stoked fears of a recession. Financial and retail-related ETFs were also among the losers of the week, slammed by the weaker-than-expected employment report. For the week, the Ultra Financial ProShares (UYG Quote - Cramer on UYG - Stock Picks) ETF slumped 9.9% to $36.73. The iShares Dow Jones U.S. Broker-Dealers (IAI Quote - Cramer on IAI - Stock Picks) ETF was lower by 6.8% to $47.36. The Financial Select Sector SPDR (XLF Quote - Cramer on XLF - Stock Picks) ETF lost 5.1% to $27.46. Among bundled securities tracking retailers, the SPDR S&P Retail (XRT Quote - Cramer on XRT - Stock Picks) ETF was down 8.9% to $30.93. The PowerShares Dynamic Retail (PMR Quote - Cramer on PMR - Stock Picks) ETF fell 8.5% to $14.43. The Retail HOLDRs (RTH Quote - Cramer on RTH - Stock Picks) lost 6.9% to end the week at $87.60.



