5 ETFs to Watch This Week

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Here are five ETFs to watch this week.

PowerShares DB U.S. Dollar Index Bullish Fund (UUP)

The U.S. dollar received some welcomed strength during the second half of last week as jittery market action drove investors to safety. Further aiding the greenback's ascension were comments from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. At Wednesday's press conference, Bernanke continued to write off the likelihood of seeing additional quantitative easing.

QE2 is scheduled to end on June 30. The anticipation leading up to this date, combined with general market turmoil could result in some interesting action from dollar-tracking UUP in the days ahead.

iShares MSCI Italy Index Fund (EWI)

Although investors have spent much of the past few weeks clamoring over Greece's debt woes, it is important to remember that Greece is not the only member of the European Union facing substantial headwinds.

Italy is another EU player facing hurdles. Last Friday, a collection of Italian financial institutions took big hits following a report that Moody's had placed the nation's debt on review for a possible downgrade.

EWI is vulnerable to shakeups in the nation's banking industry. Financials represent nearly 30% of EWI's index, making it the fund's largest sector component.

United States Oil Fund (USO)

The futures-tracking USO tumbled to previous 2011 lows last week following reports that the International Energy Agency is planning to release a combined 60 million barrels of crude oil, including 30 million barrels from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

In the days ahead, it will be interesting to see how USO, United States Brent Oil Fund (BNO) and United States Gasoline Fund (UGA) fare. These futures-backed funds are best watched fund the sidelines, however. I have long urged energy-hungry investors to opt for equity-backed funds like iShares Dow Jones U.S. Oil Equipment & Services Index Fund (IEZ) over futures-backed products like USO.

Market Vectors Agribusiness ETF (MOO)

In the middle of the week, seed giant Monsanto (MON) will report its earnings and outlook for the coming months. ETF investors looking to target the firm should look to MOO because MON is the fund's second largest holding, accounting for over 7% of its portfolio.

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