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.

Tags: Brazil, EWZ, Metals & Mining, Oil, South Korea, Steel