5 Top ETFs for the Year So Far

Even with the markets in turmoil lately, it doesn’t hurt to stop and examine exchange traded funds’ (ETFs) performance so far this year. In doing so, a few ETF all-stars emerge. Can you guess which ones make the top five, according to Jeffrey Ptak for Morningstar?

One of these ETFs is the Market Vectors Steel (SLX). It’s up 29.3% year-to-date. SLX tracks the Amex Steel Index and comprises 33 steel-related stocks. This ETF is heavy in popular foreign holdings; they make up two-thirds of the fund. Other ETF leaders for the year include:

• iShares MSCI South Korea Index (EWY)
  EWY is up 26.1% year-to-date. Seeing that this ETF makes the list should come as no surprise as we’ve reported on its strong performance on a few occasions.
• PowerShares Dynamic Oil & Gas Services (PXJ)
  PXJ is up 28% year-to-date. Of all the fund’s 30 stocks, 25 have posted double-digit gains. It tracks the Oil & Gas Services Intellidex that ranks U.S. oil and gas services stocks based on various growth, valuation, momentum and risk factors.
• PowerShares Wilderhill Clean Energy (PBW)
  PBW is up 23.8% year-to-date. This is another ETF that has received a lot of positive attention lately.
• iShares MSCI Brazil Index (EWZ)
  EWZ is up 26.2% year-to-date. This country has been growing thanks to manufacturing a broad range of goods and an increase in consumer consumption.