Friday's ETF Winners & Losers
Exchange-traded funds tracking the bond market were among few winners of a losing session Friday, after a report that showed job growth shrinking in the U.S. had investors dumping equities for Treasuries.
The U.S. economy gave up 4,000 jobs last month, according to a report from the Labor Department. It was the first decline in the nonfarm payrolls in four years. The figure was shockingly below economists' expectations for an addition of 100,000 nonfarm jobs. Following the report, the 10-year was up 25/32 in price, cutting the yield to 4.41%. The 30-year note was adding 1 and 7/32 in price, yielding 4.72%.
The
iShares Lehman 20+ Year Treasury Bond
(TLT) - Get Report
ETF was up $1.30, or 1.5%, to $90.34. The
iShares Lehman 10-20 Year Treasury Bond
(TLH) - Get Report
was higher by $1.22, or 1.2%, at $102.50. The
iShares Lehman 7-10 Year Treasury
(IEF) - Get Report
was adding 72 cents, or 0.9%, to $84.71.
Precious metals-related ETFs also jumped following the Labor Department's report, as speculators drove up prices on gold and silver on expectations of an interest rate cut during the next
Federal Reserve
meeting on Sept. 18. Gold prices surged $8.40 to $713 an ounce. Silver was also on the rise, climbing 10 cents to $12.63 an ounce.
The
streetTRACKS Gold Shares
(GLD) - Get Report
was up 79 cents, or 1.2%, to $69.65. The
PowerShares DB Gold
(DGL) - Get Report
was adding 34 cents, or 1.2%, to $27.70. The
iShares Comex Gold Trust
(IAU) - Get Report
rose 72 cents, or 1%, to $69.69.
Bundled securities tracking nearly every other sector were losing ground Friday. Semiconductor ETFs were among the hardest hit. Among holdings,
Texas Instruments
(TXN) - Get Report
,
National Semiconductor
(NSM)
,
Applied Materials
(AMAT) - Get Report
and
Analog Devices
(ADI) - Get Report
were all losing 2% or more.
The
Ultra Semiconductor ProShares
(USD) - Get Report
ETF was dropping $5.65, or 6.3%, to $83.86. The
iShares S&P GSTI Semiconductor
(IGW)
ETF was down $2.15, or 3.2%, to $65.65. The
Semiconductor HOLDRs
(SMH) - Get Report
ETF was losing $1.18, or 3.1%, to $37.54.
Housing-related ETFs were also among the worst decliners of Friday's session. Following the last close,
Hovnanian
(HOV) - Get Report
posted a fiscal third-quarter loss that was worse than expected, according to Thomson First Call. Rival
Beazer Homes
(BZH) - Get Report
also tumbled after word the homebuilder had received default notices for five senior notes from the U.S. Bank National Association.
The
iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction
(ITB) - Get Report
was losing 72 cents, or 3.2%, to $22.11. The
SPDR S&P Homebuilders
(XHB) - Get Report
was down 45 cents, or 1.9%, to $23.34.