Wednesday's ETF Winners & Losers
Updated from 1:00 p.m. EDT with new stock prices
Exchange-traded funds tracking technology names were among the worst performers of a losing session Wednesday, following sharp declines for shares of
Amazon.com
(AMZN) - Get Report
,
Altera
(ALTR) - Get Report
and
Broadcom
(BRCM)
.
After the previous close, Internet retailer Amazon.com beat third-quarter forecasts by a penny as revenue jumped 41% from a year ago. However, gross margin declined when compared with the second quarter, and shares were dropping 11.99%.
Bundled securities tracking the Internet sector were sent tumbling. The
Internet HOLDRs
(HHH)
was falling $2.35, or 3.49%, to $64.90. The
First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index
(FDN) - Get Report
was down 65 cents, or 2.34%, to $27.13. The
Internet Infrastructure HOLDRs
(IIH)
was off 15 cents, or 2.61%, to $5.59.
Amazon's loss also hit retail ETFs. The
SPDR S&P Retail
(XRT) - Get Report
was losing 22 cents, or 0.58%, to $37.85. The
Retail HOLDRs
(RTH) - Get Report
slumped 50 cents, or 0.51%, to $97.40. The
PowerShares Dynamic Retail
(PMR) - Get Report
was up, however, 7 cents, or 0.41%, to $17.24.
Also following Tuesday's close, chipmakers Altera and Broadcom delivered poor earnings reports, sending both stocks spiraling lower by 15% or more.
The
Ultra Semiconductor ProShares
(USD) - Get Report
was losing $4.89, or 5.62%, to $82.11. The
iShares S&P GTSI Semiconductor
(IGW)
was sinking by $2.06, or 3.06%, to $65.16. The
PowerShares Dynamic Semiconductors
(PSI) - Get Report
shed 46 cents, or 2.45%, to $18.35.
Financial-related ETFs were also among the worst decliners of the day on the back of
Merrill Lynch's
(MER)
greater-than-expected $7.9 billion writedown due to the credit crisis that plague financial markets during the summer. Merrill swung to a third-quarter continuing-operations loss of $2.24 billion, or $2.85 a share, from a year-ago profit of $3.05 billion, or $3.14 a share.
The
Ultra Financials ProShares
(UYG) - Get Report
was falling by $3.70, or 6.89%, to $50. The
KBW Regional Banking
(KRE) - Get Report
ETF was down 65 cents, or 1.58%, to $40.55. The
PowerShares Dynamic Banking
(PJB)
was off 10 cents, or 0.48%, to $20.83.
Bundled securities tracking homebuilders were hit after the National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales fell a greater-than-expected 8% to 5.04 million annualized units in September, well below expectations. The report comes a day after
Centex
(CTX)
swung to a fiscal second-quarter loss.
The
SPDR S&P Homebuilders
(XHB) - Get Report
was barely up 1 cent, or 0.05%, to $22.21 after falling earlier in the day. The
iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction
(ITB) - Get Report
also recovered, up 30 cents, or 1.48%, to $20.56 after being down earlier.
Oil and gas-related ETFs were among the only real winners of the session, though, following a bullish report from the Energy Department that showed that crude stocks unexpectedly dropped by 5.3 million barrels last week. Gasoline and distillate inventories also declined, compared with expectations for slight gains. Recently, the December front-month crude contract was up 60 cents to $87.10 a barrel.
The
United States Oil
(USO) - Get Report
ETF was adding $2.15, or 3.27%, to $67.98. The
iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Index
(OIL) - Get Report
was higher by $1.39, or 2.84%, to $50.28. The
PowerShares DB Oil
(DBO) - Get Report
was up 36 cents, or 1.16%, to $31.35.