Greek bailout plans, the deteriorating eurozone finances and the U.S. debt ceiling dominated headline news this month. Consequently, safe-haven assets and exchange traded funds (ETFs), such as those that provide exposure to precious metals, more notably silver, experienced robust gains.
The broader markets fought for gains during the month, but they eventually gave out and ended slightly down. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended July down at 1.0%, the S&P 500 lost 1.2% and the Nasdaq gained 0.6%.
The top performing unleveraged ETFs for the month were silver related. PowerShares DB Silver Fund (NYSEArca: DBS), ETFS Physical Silver Shares (NYSEArca: SIVR) and iShares Silver Trust (NYSEArca: SLV) were up 14% in July.
Other top performers for the month include iShares MSCI All Peru Capped Index (NYSEArca: EPU), up 15.5%; iShares MSCI Thailand Investable Market Index (NYSEArca: THD), up 14.5% and iPath DJ UBS Sugar Sub-Index ETN (NYSEArca: SGG), up 10.6%.
Click here for the full July ETF Performance Report. Or you can visit our ETF Analyzer at any time for current ETF performances.
For disclosure, Tom Lydon’s clients own SLV.
Max Chen contributed to this article.
The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Tom Lydon, and may not actually come to pass. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product.