Thursday's ETF Winners & Losers
Updated from 12:38 p.m. EDT with new stock prices
Exchange-traded funds tracking the financial sector were the worst performers of a sharply lower session Thursday, following an analyst downgrade of
Citigroup
(C) - Get Report
CIBC World Markets cut its rating on Citi to sector underperform from sector perform, citing the possibility of a huge capital shortfall. Shares of Citigroup plummeted 6.9%, and
Morgan Stanley
(MS) - Get Report
,
Bear Stearns
(BSC)
,
Merrill Lynch
(MER)
and
Lehman Brothers
(LEH)
shed 4% or more.
The
Ultra Financials ProShares
(UYG) - Get Report
declined by $4.51, or 8.2%, to $50.50. The
KBW Regional Banking
(KRE) - Get Report
was lower by $2.52, or 6%, to $39.58. The
PowerShares Dynamic Banking
(PJB)
was recently down $1.17, or 5.5%, to $20.14.
Homebuilders were also hit by selling.
Meritage Homes
(MTH) - Get Report
,
Hovnanian
(HOV) - Get Report
,
Lennar
(LEN) - Get Report
,
Centex
(CTX)
and
Beazer Homes
(BZH) - Get Report
all dropped 4% or more.
The
iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction
(ITB) - Get Report
sank by $1.01, or 4.8% to $19.88. The
SPDR S&P Homebuilders
(XHB) - Get Report
was off 97 cents, or 4.4%, to $21.20.
Bundled securities following Asia markets were also lower during the current session. Overnight, China's CSI 300 Index declined 1.5%, and indices in India, Taiwan and Thailand also finished with losses.
The
SPDR S&P Emerging Asia Pacific
(GMF) - Get Report
was recently down $4.87, or 4.8%, to $97.75. The
iShares MSCI Taiwan Index
(EWT) - Get Report
was lower by 87 cents, or 4.8%, to $17.28. The
SPDR S&P China
(GXC) - Get Report
eased $5.28, or 4.7%, to $107.92.
On the other hand, Treasury-related ETFs were among few winners of the day, as traders poured money into the so-called safe haven of bonds. Recently, the 10-year note was rallying 25/32 in price, cutting the yield to 4.37%. The 30-year bond was adding 1-15/32 in price, yielding 4.66%.
The
iShares Lehman 20+ Year Treasury Bond
(TLT) - Get Report
rose $1.38, or 1.5%, to $90.96. The
SPDR Lehman Long Term Treasury
(TLO)
was up 40 cents, or 0.8%, to $52.49. The
iShares Lehman 10-20 Year Treasury Bond
(TLH) - Get Report
was adding 60 cents, or 0.6%, to $102.80.