Exchange traded funds that invest in the U.S. financial sector fell hard Monday on economic worries as top holdings Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) both lost about 4%. Energy ETFs were the other big sector loser to start the week.
Financial ETFs lost nearly 2% on Monday. An analyst downgrade of Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) and a pullback in Regions Financial (NYSE: RF) weighed on sentiment. [Bank ETFs Fall]
Energy ETFs slipped more than 1% on Monday and were the market’s worst-performing sector along with financials as the ETFs lost ground with oil and Halliburton (NYSE: HAL), which faced a legal setback. Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEArca: XLE) closed down 1.7% today. Shares of Halliburton, a top holding at 3.5% of the ETF, were off nearly 4%. The Supreme Court ruled Monday that Halliburton shareholders can pursue a class-action lawsuit claiming the oil company inflated its stock price, Reuters reported. A pullback in crude oil prices to under $100 a barrel also hurt energy ETFs on Monday. U.S. Oil Fund (NYSEArca: USO) slid more than 1%. [Energy ETFs Fall on Halliburton, Oil]
An appearance by Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs at the company’s annual worldwide developers conference failed to boost a Nasdaq exchange traded fund on Monday as the stock fell below its 50-day moving average. [Apple Fails to Lift Nasdaq ETF]
Silver ETFs rose on Monday, raising hopes that the metals ETFs are forming a short-term foundation after last month’s sell-off. [Are Silver ETFs Building a Bottom?]
ETFs indexed to the S&P 500 fell more than 1% on Monday as stock bulls didn’t get the bounce they were hoping for after last week’s drop. “Last Friday’s employment report was the latest in a string of economic numbers portraying very slow growth in the U.S. economy,” said David Kelly, chief market strategist at JP Morgan Funds, on Monday. The S&P 500 closed Monday below horizontal support at 1295. “This level rebuffed breakdown attempts in February (twice) and mid-April,” said Tarquin Coe, technical analyst at Investors Intelligence, on Monday. [S&P 500 ETFs Can’t Find Support]