Financial exchange traded funds were the worst-performing sector ETFs on Monday with banking giants Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) down over 2% amid lingering concerns over recent economic data.
Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEArca: XLF) slipped 1% in early trading Monday as Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) and JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) were in the headlines to start the week. JP Morgan is the ETF’s top holding at 9.2% of the portfolio while Goldman accounts for 3.9%.
Bank exchange traded funds have been hammered lately by weak economic data and reduced investor appetite for risk. SPDR KBW Bank ETF (NYSEArca: KBE) lost 4% last week and is down nearly 10% over the past three months with investors worried over signals the economy is slowing and banks’ exposure to the European debt crisis. Options traders have been buying puts on the bank ETF to profit from additional weakness.
PowerShares QQQ (NasdaqGM: QQQ) was fractionally lower in Monday’s premarket as top holding Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL) will be in focus during the session with the company opening its developers conference. Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs is scheduled to speak on Monday afternoon and Wall Street analysts and investors will be hanging on the CEO’s every word. Apple is the biggest holding in PowerShares QQQ at 12.5% of the Nasdaq-100 ETF. The fund is up 3.6% year to date, according to Morningstar.
Silver exchange traded funds were set to rise Monday even though investors have been pulling money from the metal ETFs recently. The iShares Silver Trust (NYSEArca: SLV) climbed more than 1% in premarket action Monday. Yet exchange traded products that invest in silver saw outflows of $238 million in the latest week, according to research from Deutsche Bank. Silver ETFs such as ETFS Physical Silver (NYSEArca: SIVR) and PowerShares DB Silver (NYSEArca: DBS) are trying to find their footing after the huge drop in early May.
Gregory A. Clay contributed to this article.
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