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]
An ETF tracking long-dated Treasury bonds has pulled back somewhat after hitting its high for the year last week with investors scaling back risk in their portfolios. Despite all the chatter about the debt ceiling and inflation, iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond Fund (NYSEArca: TLT) is up 4% year to date. [Long Treasury ETF Moves Lower After 2011 Peak]
An ETF that invests in Peru ended down almost 14% on Monday in U.S. trading after Ollanta Humala emerged as the victor in a runoff election held over the weekend. The $489 million iShares MSCI All Peru Capped Index Fund (NYSEArca: EPU) was off 12.8% year to date as of June 3, according to Morningstar, amid the political uncertainty in the country. [Peru ETF Sharply Lower After Election]
Gregory A. Clay contributed to this article.