Dion's Thursday ETF Winners and Losers

The SPDR S&P Biotech ETF got a lift from the FDA's approval of Dendreon's prostate cancer treatment.
By Don Dion ,

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

Claymore/MAC Global Solar Energy Index ETF

(TAN) - Get Report

5.8%

The solar energy industry is seeing strong gains today after industry leader

First Solar

(FSLR) - Get Report

reported quarterly earnings that handily beat analyst expectations.

First Solar accounts for nearly 11% of TAN's total portfolio. As I mentioned in an article this afternoon, investors need to be

cautious

playing solar energy in the near future.

iShares MSCI Spain Index Fund

(EWP) - Get Report

3.5%

The Spain ETF has yo-yoed throughout this week as the European Union continues to mull a plan to bail out Greece.

Given the uncertainty surrounding the bailout and its performance over the past few weeks, I would advise even the gutsiest investors to steer clear of EWP. Until a clearer plan of action is established, wild swings should be expected

SPDR S&P Biotech ETF

(XBI) - Get Report

2.9%

On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration approved

Dendreon's

(DNDN)

latest treatment to fight prostate cancer.

XBI, which has the most direct exposure to DNDN, and the good news also helped power the broad biotech industry higher.

United States Oil Fund

(USO) - Get Report

2.7%

An improving economic outlook and a strong market helped lift oil prices on Thursday, leading USO higher.

Rising oil prices were cited as a source of strength for

Exxon Mobil

(XOM) - Get Report

(XOM) in its quarterly earnings report. Fellow oil major

Chevron

(CVX) - Get Report

will report earnings Friday.

Losers

United States Natural Gas Fund

(UNG) - Get Report

-8.3% The Energy Information Administration released a new natural gas storage report Thursday that saw a storage increase of 83 billion cubic feet. Analysts had predicted an increase of 69 bfc. Last week, the numbers were optimistic and lead natural gas futures prices higher. As I warned Wednesday in an

article

, the bottoming process could take UNG lower, although the outlook for natural gas is improving.

iPath S&P 500 VIX Short Term Futures ETN

(VXX) - Get Report

-5.0%

Although the VIX saw a nice rise when the market took a hit at the start of the week, it has continued lower over the past two days.

VXX has caused nothing but losses for investors throughout this month and 2010. The fund's epic downfall has been steep, and there is likely further to go. I strongly advise investors to avoid this fund.

All prices as of 2:15 p.m. EST

-- Written by Don Dion in Williamstown, Mass.

At the time of publication, Dion was not long any equity mentioned.

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.

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