Thursday's ETF Winners & Losers

Financial and real-estate-related exchange-traded funds were among the best performers of Thursday's session, as troubled lender

Countrywide

(CFC)

shares jumped after announcing it has obtained $12 billion in borrowing capacity.

Among real estate ETFs, the

Ultra Real Estate ProShares

(URE) - Get Report

rose $1.33, or 3.1%, to $43.91. The

Vanguard REIT Index

(VNQ) - Get Report

was higher by $1.30, or 1.9%, to $69.24. The

iShares Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate

(IYR) - Get Report

was up $1.15, or 1.6%, to $73.56.

In the financial sector, the

Ultra Financial ProShares

(UYG) - Get Report

tacked on $1.53, or 2.9%, to $55.15. The

iShares Dow Jones U.S. Broker-Dealers

(IAI) - Get Report

was higher by 88 cents, or 1.8%, to $49.78. The

KBW Bank

(KBE) - Get Report

ETF was adding 85 cents, or 1.7%, to $52.35.

ETFs tracking the basic materials sector also trading higher, thanks to a rally in several holdings. Among those trading higher,

Nucor

(NUE) - Get Report

jumped 4.2%,

Freeport-McMoRan

(FCX) - Get Report

was up 3.7% and

Alcoa

(AA) - Get Report

was rising 2.6%.

The

Ultra Basic Materials ProShares

(UYM) - Get Report

was climbing $2.56, or 3.2%, to $83.86. The

iShares Dow Jones U.S. Basic Materials

(IYM) - Get Report

gained 91 cents, or 1.3%, to $68.95. The

PowerShares FTSE RAFI Basic Materials

(PRFM)

was up 84 cents, or 1.3%, to $63.73.

Retail-related ETFs benefited from advances in shares of

Target

(TGT) - Get Report

and

McDonald's

(MCD) - Get Report

. Target rose 2.5% a day after the store said it was shopping its credit card division. McDonald's, meanwhile, climbed 5.8% after saying it expects to return a total of $15 billion to $17 billion to shareholders over the next three years through dividends and share buybacks.

The

PowerShares Dynamic Retail

(PMR) - Get Report

was gaining 35 cents, or 2%, to $17.83. The

Retail HOLDRs

(RTH) - Get Report

increased by $1.57, or 1.6%, to $100.06. The

SPRD S&P Retail

(XRT) - Get Report

was up 46 cents, or 1.2%, to $38.37.

There were few losers during Thursday's winning session. The

United States Natural Gas

(UNG) - Get Report

ETF was down 4.6% as natural gas fell 32 cents to $6.11 per million British thermal units. The ETF was down $1.85 to $38.10.