Thursday's ETF Winners & Losers

Financial-related funds slid on Thursday on Citi's downgrade.

Author:: Robert Holmes
Publish date:: Nov 1, 2007 4:28 PM EDT

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

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.