However, FRAK is not alone among ETFs feeling the pain of soaring shale output and lower prices that it make it harder for producers to turn shale profits. The First Trust ISE-Revere Natural Gas Index Fund (NYSEArca: FCG), home to an array of companies with significant gas and oil shale exposure, plunged 5.7% Thursday to another 52-week low.
On nearly double the average daily volume, the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (NYSEArca: XOP) was down 4.6% late Thursday. XOP, an equal-weight ETF that includes a mix of mega-, mid- and small-cap stocks, also hit a new 52-week low Thursday. [Maybe a Rebound for This Oil ETF]
History could be a guide for oil stocks and ETFs. Following the end of the 1980s U.S. oil boom, “prices dropped to $9.95 a barrel in April 1986 from $32.35 the previous August, and the annual average stayed below $30 a barrel until 2000,” according to Bloomberg.
Market Vectors Unconventional Oil & Gas ETF
