This Week's ETF Winners & Losers: Energy Sapped

The paper cited Lehman Brothers (LEH Quote) and Morgan Stanley (MS Quote) as among those hurt by that tactic. Shares of the firms plunged 17.3% and 11.4%, respectively.

The Financial Select Sector SPDR (XLF Quote) lost 6.7% since Monday; Ultra Financials ProShares (UYG Quote) tumbled 10.9%; Vanguard Financials ETF (VFH Quote) shed 5.3%; and iShares Dow Jones U.S. Financial (IYF Quote) was off 5.5%.

Among suffering individual names, Dow financial components Citigroup (C Quote), Bank of America (BAC Quote), and JPMorgan Chase (JPM Quote), slid at least 6.2% apiece.

On the lonely upside were gold-related ETFs, which gained ground for the week as futures on the metal glided higher by nearly 3% on a weakening U.S. dollar. The iShares COMEX Gold Trust (IAU Quote) and the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD Quote) have risen 2.4% over the past five sessions, and Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX Quote) is better by 0.9%.