Oil prices were back under pressure Thursday and an ETF tracking crude futures was down 3% before the bell. U.S. Oil Fund (NYSEArca: USO) has slipped about 9% over the past week. Crude futures were set for further losses Thursday with oil trading below $97 a barrel after recently spiking to nearly $115. [Is Oil ETF Pullback a Buying Opportunity]
Software ETFs that have been solid performers could get a further boost from Symantec (NasdaqGS: SYMC), which reported quarter results late Wednesday. Symantec represents nearly 6% of iShares S&P North American Technology-Software (NYSEArca: IGV). The software ETF is up 35% over the past year. Symantec’s quarterly results beat expectations across the board with strong performance in all segments, said Deutsche Bank analysts in a note. [Soft ETFs in Focus on Symantec Results]
Silver ETFs were set to absorb further losses Thursday as the dollar continued to strengthen. The largest ETF for silver was down 7% in premarket. Yet after the recent massive sell-off in physical silver, some believe that silver ETFs are now relatively cheap investments, especially considering that the fundamentals for silver are still in play. The iShares Silver Trust (NYSEArca: SLV) was down 10% over the past week heading into Thursday’s session. It lost more than 8% in Wednesday’s sell-off. [Silver ETF Drops 7% in Premarket]
Gregory A. Clay contributed to this article.
