Don Dion's Weekly ETF Winners and Losers

Following a shortened Thanksgiving trading week, investor attention was tuned to Dubai's debt restructuring. In the end, negative sentiment was largely relieved when the overall forecasted impact was found to be less than expected.

As the week progressed, media focus shifted to the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan, as President Obama pledged to send an additional 30,000 troops there by next summer. The president followed up this announcement with reassurance that, by 2011, soldiers would be withdrawn from the region.

On Wall Street, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke fielded questions from the Senate Banking Committee as he pleaded his case for reappointment, and gold prices continued to break records, thanks to a weakening dollar. Before taking a hit on Friday, the yellow metal broke the $1,200 barrier and the dollar rebounded. Both still closed the week nearly unchanged, with the Market Vectors Gold Miners'(GDX) five-day performance barely negative and the Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners(GDXJ)barely positive.

With that in mind, here are the ETF winners and losers for the week.

Winners

Market Vectors Steel(SLX) + 6.31%

PowerShares DB Base Metals(DBB) + 4.64%

WisdomTree International Basic Materials Sector Fund(DBN) + 3.49%

The basic materials sector outperformed this week as recovering nations around the world continued to demand the metals for raw building materials. Steel was the biggest winner of the group largely thanks to a Goldman Sachs blessing on Monday.

iShares MSCI Japan Index Fund(EWJ) + 6.51%

WisdomTree Japan Total Dividend Fund(DXJ) + 6.92%

WisdomTree Japan SmallCap Dividend Fund(DFJ) + 3.39%

iShares MSCI Japan Small Cap Index Fund (SCJ) + 5.04%

Gains across much of Asia this week helped boost all things Japan. On Thursday, the Nikkei 225 rose above the 10,000 level for the first time since the end of October. Additionally, talk of quantitative easing and a forced weakening of the yen ultimately led the Japanese markets higher.