ETF August Activity

Exchange traded funds (ETFs) experienced a lot of activity in August. ETF Insider’s ETF 50 Index, which represents the asset-weighted price performance of the 50 largest ETFs, accounted for 80.7% of total ETF assets, reports Aaron Siegel for Investment News. It increased by 0.6% in August after declines two months in a row. The gains might have been larger, but 48% of the SPDRs (SPY), which is the largest ETF, were sold short during the month. It gained 1.3% during August. According to ETF Insider the following were ETF winners and losers for August:

• PowerShares QQQ (QQQQ) – up 2.95%
• iShares FTSE/Xinhau China 25 (FXI) – up 7.60%
• iShares Cohen & Steers Realty Majors (ICF) – up 6.37%
• Anyone who shorted SPDRs ETFs
• iShares MSCI Japan Index (EWJ) – down 2.49%
• iShares MSCI Brazil Index (EWZ) – down 3.66%