The threat of rising interest rates and the caution investors have taken to protect against this is evidenced through the $3.2 billion in new inflows in the Vanguard Short-Term Debt ETF (NYSEArca: BSV). The ETF has a negative total return and a small yield but the short-term government and corporate debt provides investors the closest thing to safe haven for their capital. [ETF Spotlight: Vanguard Short Duration Bond]
Clean energy has proven most wrong who thought the run-up in focused stocks and ETFs would be short, reports Balchunas. The Guggenheim Solar Energy ETF (NYSEArca: TAN) is up 51.8% this year, and is the top-performing ETF. TAN is still down 89% since its launch in 2008.
Lastly, frontier markets have outpaced emerging market performance from a stock market perspective. The iShares Frontier 100 ETF (NYSEArca: FM) has earned 10.8%, compared to a 10% loss that the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEArca: EEM) has taken. [A Frontier ETF That’s Outpacing Emerging Markets]
Tisha Guerrero contributed to this article.