Dion's Thursday ETF Winners and Losers

NEW YORK (TheStreet) --Welcome to Don Dion's Daily ETF Winners and Losers. Be sure to stop by each day to get a feel of who's winning and who's losing when it comes to ETFs.

Winners

Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) 2.9%

Precious metals-related ETFs are bounding higher today, lead by gold miners, which are benefiting from strength in the yellow metal. ETFS Physical Palladium Shares (PALL) is another precious metal linked fund heading higher today.

PALL has had an impressive run as investors seek out protection from market volatility. Additionally, because of its extensive use in the automotive industry, this fund has benefited from the recent round of market strength.

iPath Dow Jones UBS Natural Gas Total Return Subindex ETN (GAZ) 2.8%

Despite a slightly disappointing storage report from the Energy Information Administration, the natural gas futures-related exchange traded products, GAZ and United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG), are seeing a lift today.

The equity backed natural gas fund, First Trust ISE Revere Natural Gas Fund (FCG) is trading in near-unchanged territory.

iShares MSCI New Zealand Investable Market Index Fund (ENZL) 1.7%

The U.S. markets are seeing some shaky performance as we head towards the close of the week and month. Internationally, however, there are some players scoring gains. Among those heading higher are New Zealand and Italy, as indicated by the positive performance from ENZL and the iShares MSCI Italy Index Fund (EWI).

Despite seeing some promising economic news this morning, Europe remains a tricky region of the globe to navigate. Investors with ample risk tolerance should use extreme caution before wading in, opting for ETFs designed to track strong EU constituents such as iShares MSCI Germany Index Fund (EWG) and iShares MSCI Netherlands Investable Market Index Fund (EWN)..

Losers

SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Services ETF (XES) -2.2%

Despite positive earnings reports from integrated energy giants such as ExxonMobil (XOM) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A), oil producers are facing headwinds today, causing funds like XES and iShares Dow Jones U.S. Oil Equipment & Services Index Fund (IEZ) to take losses.

Halliburton is acting as a noticeable anchor on XES and IEZ's performance, dropping over 8% today.

SPDR KBW Insurance ETF (KIE) -1.3%

Genworth Financial (GNW) and MGIC Investment Corp (MTG) were two big laggards hailing from the insurance industry today. GNW was down close to 4% in early afternoon trading as investors prepare for the company's quarterly earnings report while MTG slumped 5% despite seeing a reduction in losses. Together, MTG and GNW account for slightly less than 10% of KIE's total portfolio.

iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction Index Fund (ITB) -1.0%

The homebuilders are struggling today, leading to losses for ITB. Weakness, however, can be felt across the broad real estate industry as the REIT-focused iShares Cohen & Steers Realty Majors Index Fund (ICF) and broad-based iShares Dow Jones Real Estate Index Fund (IYR) tread in negative territory.

All prices as of 2:15 PM EST

Written by Don Dion in Williamstown, Mass.

At the time of publication, Dion Money Management was long Market Vectors Gold Miners.

Don Dion is president and founder of Dion Money Management, a fee-based investment advisory firm to affluent individuals, families and nonprofit organizations, where he is responsible for setting investment policy, creating custom portfolios and overseeing the performance of client accounts. Founded in 1996 and based in Williamstown, Mass., Dion Money Management manages assets for clients in 49 states and 11 countries. Dion is a licensed attorney in Massachusetts and Maine and has more than 25 years' experience working in the financial markets, having founded and run two publicly traded companies before establishing Dion Money Management.

Dion also is publisher of the Fidelity Independent Adviser family of newsletters, which provides to a broad range of investors his commentary on the financial markets, with a specific emphasis on mutual funds and exchange-traded funds. With more than 100,000 subscribers in the U.S. and 29 other countries, Fidelity Independent Adviser publishes six monthly newsletters and three weekly newsletters. Its flagship publication, Fidelity Independent Adviser, has been published monthly for 11 years and reaches 40,000 subscribers.