5 Top ETFs for the Year So Far

August 15, 2007 at 1:00 am by Tom Lydon

5_top_etfs 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.

Top_etfs

Tags: , , , , ,

Share: DiggDigg | Del.icio.usBookmark at Del.icio.us | Tip'd

Subscribe to our RSS Feed

Click here to subscribe to our RSS feed

2 Comments For This Post

  1. Dave Says:

    Thanks for covering what mainstream media hasn’t ;-))

  2. tom Says:

    Actually, per WSJ.com data sources, the top 5 ETF’s YTD are:

    SRS +71.5%
    SKF + 34.9%
    SJH +28%
    SLX + 23.9%
    SCC +22.5%

    SLX has slipped dramatically in the last month, while the ultra-shorts (SRS, SKF, SJH,SCC) have risen dramatically. Realize of course these shorts are probably not the best long term holdings as the market will reverse at some point wiping out those gains. They do make for some nice daytrades however! I predict that SLX will continue to slide as the global growth scenario has peaked and will level off and drift lower post-2008.

Leave a Reply

Subscribe to E-mail Newsletter

Enter your e-mail address below to sign up for our free e-mail newsletter, the Daily Market Update. We will never share your e-mail address with third parties.

ETF Analyzer

iMoney

ETF Trends' new book iMoney is now available. Click here for details. Or order online from one of these bookstores:
Amazon        Amazon

    • Jack McElroy: I don’t understand the Subject Line for this brief writeup—it doesn’t make sense. It...
    • Tom Lydon: Hi Tom, If a fund drops below its 50-day or 8% off the recent high (whichever comes first), we sell. When...
    • Tom Lydon: Hi George, Short and leveraged ETFs do what they’re supposed to do on a daily basis, but over the...
    • Tom: Do you sell back out of the fund if it falls back below it’s 50-day? How many times will you move in and...
    • Forone: The financials are going to be subject to year-end audits, by auditors on their best behavior in front of the...

Recent Podcast

Tom Lydon Talks Everything ETFs

 
 Tom Lydon on Gaining and Edge with ETFs: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download