Dion's Weekly ETF Winners and Losers

It was a mildly down week for the stock market. The S&P 500 lost 0.2%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 0.5%. The Nasdaq lost 1%, hurt by poor earnings from Dell(DELL Quote) and a Bank of America analyst downgrade of the chip sector.

Gold made headlines on Monday and Tuesday, but it traded sideways for the remainder of the week. the iShares Comex Gold(IAU Quote) gained 2.8% for the week. Housing starts grabbed headlines as well, after they fell in October, with most analysts predicting an increase. The iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction(ITB Quote) lost 3.7%.

And now for this week's ETF winners and losers...

Winners

iShares Silver Trust(SLV Quote) +6.2%

PowerShares DB Silver(DBS Quote) +6.2%

Silver prices have spent most of this year catching up with gold prices, but silver can still gain more than 15% before it reaches the gold:silver ratio seen in early 2008. Silver will need more weeks like this past one though. Over the past month, gold outperformed silver.

PowerShares DB Base Metals(DBB Quote) +4.6%

iPath Copper Total Return ETN(JJC Quote) +5.2%

iPath Industrial Metals Total Return ETN(JJM Quote) +4.6%

iPath Aluminum Total Return ETN(JJU Quote) +4.2%

With copper comprising one third of DBB assets and 44% of JJM, this week's copper rally helped lift these funds. Aluminum makes up another third of DBB and 26% of JJM.

The industrial metals have performed well, since they benefit from both inflation fears and increased demand during the economic recovery.

iPath Grains Total Return ETN(JJG Quote) +3.3%

Market Vectors Agribusiness(MOO Quote) +3.8%

PowerShares DB Agriculture(DBA Quote) +1.9%

Agriculture remains popular with ETF investors, but prices have lagged other commodities. Bullish gurus such as Jim Rogers have plugged the sector and inflation fears have investors looking for any commodity that will preserve purchasing power. Crop yields are unlikely to provide the lift necessary to justify the price increases, however, opening the sector up to decline if inflation doesn't arrive in time.

> > Bull or Bear? Vote in Our Poll