As financials continue to be battered, the energy sector seems to have most of the positive activity on Wall Street of late and the coal-focused exchange traded fund (ETF) is no exception.

A jump mid-week came when analysts upgraded Peabody Energy (BTU) with a bullish prognosis on prices and a hot sentiment toward coal. Market Vectors Coal (KOL) rose on the news, and finished the week up 4.7%.

KOL is a newbie at only 5 months old, and tracks a 39-stock index, reports Rob Wherry for SmartMoney. Since its inception on Jan. 15, it’s up 35.5%.

Meanwhile, the rising price of oil and global warming concerns have stoked interest in "clean coal": the process of taking the carbon dioxide from coal-burning plants and pumping it into the ground. Most people seem to be in favor of it, reports Matthew L. Wald for the New York Times, but the efforts to develop the technique are lagging.

Several projects in the work have been canceled or locked in regulatory limbo, which means that the technology might ultimately come too late to make coal compatible with limiting global warming.

Tags: Coal, Energy, KOL, Sector ETFs