March started off in risk-off mode after Russian forces moved into Crimea. However, the knee-jerk sell-off was short lived as Putin’s comments on protecting Crimea’s Russian speaking population eased market concerns.
As geopolitical risks ebbed, investors focused on economic data, which pointed to a slowing economy due to the harsh winter conditions. Nevertheless, the markets remained in sideways trading through the rest of March as mixed economic news kept stocks in range.
Top performing non-leveraged ETFs over the past month include PowerShares DB Agriculture Long ETN (NYSEArca: AGF) up 45.5%, PowerShares DB Commodity Long ETN (NYSEArca: DPU) up 26.6% and EGShares India Infrastructure Index Fund (NYSEArca: INXX) up 19.2%.
The worst performing non-leveraged ETFs for the month include the iPath Global Carbon ETN (NYSEArca: GRN) down 32.3%, SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (NYSEArca: XBI) down 18.8% and Market Vectors Biotech (NYSEArca: BBH) down 15.9%. [Overlooked Bearish Biotech ETF Grows Up…Sort Of]
For more information on ETF performance, visit our ETF performance reports category.
Visit our ETF Analyzer for the most up-to-date ETF performance numbers.