However, with Congress dragging its feet and a stalemate among House Republicans, the equities market soured as investors anticipated the worst, heading in to the last weeks.
The markets ended 2012 on a high note after a five-day losing streak on word that Congress would be convening for the last Sunday to hash out a compromise. Nevertheless, stocks remained relatively flat over December, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.8%, the Nasdaq Composite was 0.3% higher and the S&P 500 was up 0.9%.
Last month, the top non-leveraged ETFs included Guggenheim Solar ETF (NYSEArca: TAN) up 19.6%, United States Metal Index Fund (NYSEArca: USMI) up 19.5% and Market Vectors China A-Shares ETF (NYSEArca: PEK) up 19.1%.
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Max Chen contributed to this article.