
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)
rose $1.33, or 3.1%, to $43.91. The
Vanguard REIT Index
(VNQ)
was higher by $1.30, or 1.9%, to $69.24. The
iShares Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate
(IYR)
was up $1.15, or 1.6%, to $73.56.
In the financial sector, the
Ultra Financial ProShares
TheStreet Recommends
(UYG)
tacked on $1.53, or 2.9%, to $55.15. The
iShares Dow Jones U.S. Broker-Dealers
(IAI)
was higher by 88 cents, or 1.8%, to $49.78. The
KBW Bank
(KBE)
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)
jumped 4.2%,
Freeport-McMoRan
(FCX)
was up 3.7% and
Alcoa
(AA)
was rising 2.6%.
The
Ultra Basic Materials ProShares
(UYM)
was climbing $2.56, or 3.2%, to $83.86. The
iShares Dow Jones U.S. Basic Materials
(IYM)
gained 91 cents, or 1.3%, to $68.95. The
PowerShares FTSE RAFI Basic Materials
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was up 84 cents, or 1.3%, to $63.73.
Retail-related ETFs benefited from advances in shares of
Target
(TGT)
and
McDonald's
(MCD)
. 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)
was gaining 35 cents, or 2%, to $17.83. The
Retail HOLDRs
(RTH)
increased by $1.57, or 1.6%, to $100.06. The
SPRD S&P Retail
(XRT)
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)
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.