Dion's Wednesday ETF Winners and Losers
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -Welcome to Don Dion's Daily ETF Winners and Losers. Be sure to stop by each day to get a feel of who's winning and who's losing when it comes to ETFs.
Winners
ETFS Physical Palladium Shares
(PALL) - Get Report
2.4%
Precious metals-focused ETFs are recovering some ground after Tuesday's late day sell-off. Leading the pack of physically-based funds higher today is the palladium-tracking PALL.
The atmospheric rise of silver and gold this year highlights investors' desire for protection against today's volatile markets. Although their recent performance has been choppy, I wouldn't advise unloading their positions entirely.
United States Oil Fund
(USO) - Get Report
2.3%
Oil prices are gaining ground today, helping USO put an end to a two-day streak of losses. The positive performance can be attributed to an optimistic report from the Energy Information Administration. The body found that supplies decreased by 3.3 million barrels last week versus the 800,000 million barrel increase analysts were expecting.
In response to oil's strength, funds such as
iShares Dow Jones U.S. Oil Equipment & Services Index Fund
(IEZ) - Get Report
are finding room to head higher.
iPath S&P 500 VIX Short Term Futures ETN
(VXX) - Get Report
0.9%
The volatility-tracking VXX and
iPath S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN
(VXZ) - Get Report
are showing strength today, marking positive performance for the third day in a row. These funds' declines have been steep and dramatic over the past few months despite the continued market volatility. I would not recommend trying to catch the bottom here. VXX continues to show little sign of slowing.
ProShares UltraShort 20+ Year Treasury Bond Fund
(TBT) - Get Report
0.5%
Despite shaky market performance, investors continue to shun traditional safety that comes with holding long-term U.S. Treasuries. This is causing
iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond Fund
(TLT) - Get Report
to tumble while TBT jumps higher.
TBT has seen an impressive rise since the start of October. The
Federal Reserve
's plans for QE2 have provided some welcomed fuel.
Losers
Global X/InterBolsa FTSE Columbia 20 ETF
(GXG) - Get Report
-2.1%
Internationally, the Columbia-tracking GXG is taking a noticeable hit today, leading other Latin America ETFs such as
Market Vectors Brazil Small Cap ETF
(BRF) - Get Report
lower.
Although it has struggled to gain traction, GXG has been the best performing ETF in this region in 2010. It has managed to beat out products, including
iShares MSCI Brazil Index Fund
(EWZ) - Get Report
and
iShares MSCI Chile Investable Market Index Fund
(ECH) - Get Report
by a considerable margin.
Guggenheim Solar Energy ETF
(TAN) - Get Report
-1.6%
In recent weeks the solar energy ETF has performed well in light of optimistic earnings reports from major players. This week, however, has proven difficult for it industry and TAN has tumbled for two consecutive days.
I still foresee this fund performing well as we head into the close of the year but investors need to keep a close watch on its performance.
United States Natural Gas Fund
(UNG) - Get Report
-3.1%
Just as the oil-futures based USO is getting a lift form an optimistic EIA report, the same group is helping to pressure the UNG lower. Although supply growth came in below estimates, the 19 billion cubic feet added brought total supply up to record levels last seen last November.
While UNG tumbles lower, the premium laden
iPath Dow Jones UBS Natural Gas Total Return Subindex ETN
(GAZ) - Get Report
is seeing a noticeable jump, gaining 1.0%.
All prices as of 2:15 PM EST
Written by Don Dion in Williamstown, Mass.
At the time of publication, Dion Money Management does not have positions in any of the funds mentioned.
Don Dion is president and founder of
, a fee-based investment advisory firm to affluent individuals, families and nonprofit organizations, where he is responsible for setting investment policy, creating custom portfolios and overseeing the performance of client accounts. Founded in 1996 and based in Williamstown, Mass., Dion Money Management manages assets for clients in 49 states and 11 countries. Dion is a licensed attorney in Massachusetts and Maine and has more than 25 years' experience working in the financial markets, having founded and run two publicly traded companies before establishing Dion Money Management.
Dion also is publisher of the Fidelity Independent Adviser family of newsletters, which provides to a broad range of investors his commentary on the financial markets, with a specific emphasis on mutual funds and exchange-traded funds. With more than 100,000 subscribers in the U.S. and 29 other countries, Fidelity Independent Adviser publishes six monthly newsletters and three weekly newsletters. Its flagship publication, Fidelity Independent Adviser, has been published monthly for 11 years and reaches 40,000 subscribers.
