Dion's Tuesday ETF Winners and Losers
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
Market Vectors Rare Earth/Strategic Metals ETF
(REMX) - Get Report
2.9%
Shares of
Molycorp
(MCP)
are surging nearly 15% today on news that the firm will form a joint venture with Japan's Hitachi. The two firms will work together to produce rare earth magnets. MCP's strength is leading the rare-earth ETF to a day of notable gains.
MCP represents over 5% of REMX's portfolio, placing it as the sixth-largest index constituent.
Market Vectors China ETF
(PEK) - Get Report
2.7%
A broad collection of China-focused ETFs are heading higher today. Leading the pack is the Market Vectors PEK. Unlike other ETFs, which track a basket of Chinese equities, PEK utilizes derivatives in an attempt to mimic the performance of China A-Shares.
While the approach is unique, the popularity of the fund has led it to disconnect from its underlying assets, resulting in a premium that currently stands at over 14%.
As long as this disconnect persists, it will be difficult to predict how PEK will perform.
SPDR KBW Regional Banking ETF
(KRE) - Get Report
2.4%
The regional banks have staged a dramatic rally throughout December, resulting in KRE recovering to levels last seen in mid-May.
The financial industry, as a whole, faced headwinds throughout 2010 as the threat of sweeping Washington regulation loomed. Now that the bill has been passed, it will be interesting to see how funds such as KRE fare in the new year.
Losers
United States Natural Gas Fund
(UNG) - Get Report
-3.2%
Mild weather forecasts are wreaking havoc on the natural gas industry and causing futures-based funds, such as UNG and
iPath Dow Jones UBS Natural Gas Total Return Subindex ETN
(GAZ) - Get Report
, to tumble on Tuesday.
Despite the fuel's dip, however, the equity-backed
First Trust ISE Revere Natural Gas Index Fund
(FCG) - Get Report
is scoring gains, jumping 1.0% in early afternoon trading.
iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN
(VXX) - Get Report
-1.6%
The ongoing economic recovery has helped power the S&P 500 to levels last seen prior to the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. As we close in on the end of the year, it will be exciting to see if the markets can hang onto this noteworthy level.
As a result of today's optimistic action, the VIX-based VXX is taking another shot across the bow, carving out a brand new all-time low.
iShares MSCI Singapore Index Fund
(EWS) - Get Report
-1.5%
China-based ETFs are powering higher today. However, across the rest of Asia, performance is mixed. ETFs designed to track Indonesia and Vietnam, such as
Market Vectors Indonesia ETF
(IDX) - Get Report
and
Market Vectors Vietnam ETF
(VNM) - Get Report
, are scoring gains while the
iShares MSCI Singapore Index Fund
(EWS) - Get Report
is trudging along in negative territory.
All prices as of 2:14 PM EST
At the time of publication, Dion Money Management held no positions in stocks mentioned.
This commentary comes from an independent investor or market observer as part of TheStreet guest contributor program. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of TheStreet or its management.