Five ETFs to Watch This Week

It will be interesting to see if the broad-market index ETFs can hold to last week's gains.
By Don Dion ,

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - Here are five ETFs to watch this week.

SPDR S&P 500 ETF

(SPY) - Get Report

Although the U.S. markets stumbled into the close of November, hindered by fears of euro debt contagion and concerns about China's steps to curb inflation, SPY and other broad market index-tracking ETFs started off the final month of 2010 with a bang.

As we head into this week, it will be interesting to see if funds such as SPY,

SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF

(DIA) - Get Report

and

PowerShares QQQ

(QQQQ)

can hold onto their gains.

Throughout the year, we have seen time and again evidence of the market's resilience. Despite the turmoil which continues to rage across many regions of the globe, I remain confident that the economic recovery is intact.

Market Vectors Indonesia ETF

(IDX) - Get Report

As an emerging market, Indonesia is prone to more volatile market fluctuations than developed nations. This has become evident throughout the past few weeks as the Southeast Asian nation has been working to combat the destructive effects of an increased spell of volcanic activity.

Concerns about Mother Nature's total impact on the nation have caused IDX and the

iShares MSCI Indonesia Investable Market Index Fund

(EIDO) - Get Report

to perform in a rollercoaster-like manner.

While its recent performance has been gut-wrenching, in the coming week, IDX and EIDO may be able to find some stability. On Friday, Indonesian scientists downgraded their volcano alert level.

PowerShares DB Agriculture Fund

(DBA) - Get Report

It has not seen the same wild swings as single commodity-focused ETNs such as

iPath Dow Jones UBS Sugar Total Return Subindex ETN

(SGG) - Get Report

or the

iPath Dow Jones UBS Cotton Total Return Subindex ETN

(BAL) - Get Report

, but DBA is the ideal agriculture futures-backed product for conservative investors looking for a safe way to follow the industry's popularity.

An agriculture one-stop-shop, DBA's index is designed to track a collection of 11 different products. Cotton and sugar together represent 15% of the fund. Also found among the fund's index are cocoa, lean hogs, and wheat.

The performance of single crop funds has been exciting to watch, but investing in them can be tricky. DBA is a far safer option for navigating agriculture.

Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR

(XLY) - Get Report

The holiday gift giving season is among us and investors have a number of tools at their disposal which allow them to capture the strength of retail and other consumer-focused sectors of the market.

On a number of occasions I have highlighted funds such as

First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund

(FDN) - Get Report

and

SPDR S&P Retail ETF

(XRT) - Get Report

as appropriate tools for investors looking to tap into specific subsectors of the consumer-focused industries.

XLY is another product which can be added to this list. Unlike the products listed above, XLY paints the consumer region of the market with broad brushstrokes, providing a well diversified, more conservative play.

ETFS White Metals Basket Trust

(WITE)

Late last week, ETF Securities unveiled the newest product in its growing line of physically-based precious metals ETFs. Designed to track the white metals (silver, platinum, and palladium), WITE marks the second precious metal basket product from the firm. Like

ETFS Physical Precious Metals Basket Shares

(GLTR) - Get Report

, its first multiple metal fund, there is a good chance that this new fund will gather strength quickly.

Investor sentiment will play a big part in directing the performance of silver, platinum and palladium throughout the coming week. Because they are used extensively in manufacturing and other industries, these metals head higher in times of market confidence.

Written by Don Dion in Williamstown, Mass.

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At the time of publication, Dion Money Management owned PowerShares DB Agriculture Fund, PowerShares QQQ and First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund.

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.

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