
This Week's ETF Winners & Losers
Exchange-traded funds related to financials were the worst performers of a losing week as credit concerns continued to swirl in the aftermath of a rate cut by the
Federal Reserve
.
The central bank cut the fed funds rate by 25-basis points on Wednesday, but the move did little to calm fears over exposure to the subprime mortgage mess.
Citigroup
(C) - Get Citigroup Inc. Report
,
Bear Stearns
( BSC),
Morgan Stanley
(MS) - Get Morgan Stanley Report
and
Washington Mutual
(WM) - Get Waste Management Inc. Report
fell more than 9% on the week.
Additionally, shares of
TheStreet Recommends
Merrill Lynch
( MER) dropped nearly 13% over the five sessions following the departure of embattled CEO Stan O'Neal.
The
Ultra Financial ProShares
(UYG) - Get ProShares Ultra Financials Report
ETF tumbled 10.6% to $48.98. The
KBW Bank
(KBE) - Get SPDR S&P Bank ETF Report
ETF fell 6.1% to $47.91. The
iShares Dow Jones U.S. Broker-Dealers
(IAI) - Get iShares U.S. Broker-Dealers ETF Report
ETF was lower by 3.6% to $51.97.
ETFs tracking homebuilders were among the biggest decliners as they were also dragged lower by the credit fears.
Lennar
(LEN) - Get Lennar Corporation Class A Report
,
Centex
(CTX)
,
Beazer Homes
(BZH) - Get Beazer Homes USA Inc. Report
,
Hovnanian
(HOV) - Get Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. Class A Report
and
Ryland
(RYL)
all lost 8% or more.
For the week, the
iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction
(ITB) - Get iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF Report
ETF sank 8.5% to $19.68. The
SPDR S&P Homebuilders
(XHB) - Get SPDR Homebuilders ETF Report
ETF shed 8.4% to $20.96.
On the other hand, energy-related ETFs were among winners as crude set multiple records during the week. Crude ultimately added 4.4% over the five sessions to close at $95.93.
The
PowerShares DB Oil
(DBO) - Get Invesco DB Oil Fund Report
ETF rose 4.7% to $34.44. The
iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Index
(OIL) - Get BARCLAYS BANK PLC TRACKER ZERT 18/04/41(BARCLAYS CAP SE) Report
ETF finished up 4.6% to $55.07. The
United States Oil
(USO) - Get United States Oil Fund Report
added 4.5% to $74.35.
Chip stocks also finished the week higher as tech shares were unaffected by the subprime woes.
Intel
(INTC) - Get Intel Corporation Report
,
Advanced Micro Devices
(AMD) - Get Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Report
and
Altera
(ALTR) - Get Altair Engineering Inc. Report
were all better by 2.2% or more.
The
Ultra Semiconductor ProShares
(USD) - Get ProShares Ultra Semiconductors Report
ETF rose 3.7% to $82.20. The
Semiconductor HOLDRs
(SMH) - Get VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF Report
gained 1.4% to $34.25. The
iShares S&P GSTI Semiconductor
(IGW)
ETF added 1.3% to $64.02.