This certainly was not the start to 2014 eager bulls were looking as the S&P 500 finished the holiday-shortened week to the downside following losses on Thursday and Friday, the first two trading days of 2014.
A look at the week’s most searched tickers on ETF Trends is always instructive as it delivers insight as to what advisors and investors are thinking, important information, particularly at the start of a new year.
However, we would first like to offer up an anecdote/commentary. The Guggenheim Solar ETF (NYSEArca: TAN), which more than doubled last year, making it 2013’s best non-leveraged ETF, started 2014 on a strong note, surging almost 7% in the just completed week. Surprisingly, TAN was not one of the 10 most searched ETFs on ETF Trends this week. [2013’s Best Energy ETF]
The most searched ETF on the site this week was a familiar and now infamous name: The SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca: GLD). Occupying the tenth spot was the rival iShares Gold Trust (NYSEArca: IAU). GLD and IAU each lost 28.3% last year, but were significantly less bad this as both posted modest gains.
Given the spiral the two funds were in for much of last year, it is not surprising that even small up week would jolt searches. A derivative beneficiary of gold’s upside this week, at least terms of popularity, was the iPath Dow Jones-UBS Copper Total Return Sub-Index ETN (NYSEArca: JJC), which made a rare appearance on our most searched list.