Tuesday's ETF Winners & Losers
Exchange-traded funds tracking homebuilders were among the best performers in an otherwise weak session Tuesday, despite a disappointing report on pending home sales.
The National Association of Realtors said that its pending home sales index dropped a greater-than-expected 6.5% in August. Economists expected a 2% decline in sales. Following the report, the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index rose 1.3%.
Hovnanian
(HOV) - Get Report
,
Toll Brothers
(TOL) - Get Report
,
D.R. Horton
(DHI) - Get Report
,
Lennar
(LEN) - Get Report
and
Centex
(CTX)
all jumped 4.5% or more.
The
iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction
(ITB) - Get Report
was up $1.10, or 5.3%, to $21.85. The
SPDR S&P Homebuilders
(XHB) - Get Report
rose $1.03, or 4.7%, to $23.12.
Bundled securities related to financials were on the rise after several M&A headlines emerged from the sector.
Citigroup
(C) - Get Report
said it will acquire the rest of Nikko Cordial, a Japan-based broker, for $4.6 billion. On Monday, Citigroup was part of a rally in the financial sector, despite acknowledging that third-quarter earnings should drop 60% from a year ago.
Another deal will see
Commerce Bancorp
(CBH) - Get Report
, a New Jersey bank, acquired by Canada's
TD Bank
(TD) - Get Report
for $8.5 billion in stock and cash. Additionally,
Royal Bank of Canada
(RY) - Get Report
laid out plans to buy a Caribbean bank, RBTT Financial Group, for roughly $2.2 billion.
The
Rydex S&P Equal Weight Financials
(RYF) - Get Report
gained 92 cents, or 1.9%, to $48.68. The
Ultra Financials ProShares
(UYG) - Get Report
added $1.01, or 1.7%, to $60.55. The
iShares Dow Jones U.S. Regional Banks
(IAT) - Get Report
was higher by 44 cents, or 0.9%, to $46.93. The
iShares Dow Jones U.S. Broker-Dealers
(IAI) - Get Report
advanced 64 cents, or 1.2%, to $53.95.
Asian market-related ETFs were also higher after overseas indices rallied in the wake of record highs for U.S. averages. Hong Kong's Hang Seng surged 3.9% and Japan's Nikkei advanced 1.2%.
The
SPDR S&P China
(GXC) - Get Report
was up $2.34, or 2.4%, to $98.75. The
iShares FTSE/Xinhau China 25 Index
(FXI) - Get Report
gained $4.49, or 2.4%, to $189.74. The
SPDR S&P Emerging Asia Pacific
(GMF) - Get Report
added $1.03, or 1.1%, to $91.50.
On the other hand, ETFs tracking gold and silver were among the worst performers of Monday's session as commodity futures dropped in price. Recently, gold prices were dropping $19.70 to $734.40 an ounce. Silver was tumbling 53 cents to $13.32 an ounce.
The
Market Vectors Gold Miners
(GDX) - Get Report
ETF was lower by $2.10, or 4.6%, to $43.72. The
PowerShares DB Silver
(DBS) - Get Report
was down 82 cents, or 3.1%, to $26.05. The
iShares Silver Trust
(SLV) - Get Report
was declining $4.56, or 3.3%, to $131.90. The
PowerShares DB Gold
(DGL) - Get Report
eased 73 cents, or 2.5%, to $28.56.