Energy, Defensives Lead ETFs
Money flowed Tuesday into defensive and energy
stocks, lifting the tradable funds fishing in those waters. Some of the tech
funds bounced, renewed selling hit Internet and semiconductor funds.
The Energy SPDR
(
XLE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gained 2.3%,
the day’s sharpest gain among the exchange-traded
funds. The Dow Jones Energy iShares
(
IYE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gained 1.4%. All charts in this commentary use a logarithmic scale. Daily charts display 50-day moving averages of price (in red) and of volume (in blue). Some daily charts may also display a 200-day moving average (in black).
Both tradable funds got a lift from
the natural gas sector. For chart analysis of two stocks in this arena, see my Trading
The News.
In the defensive area, the Consumer
Staples SPDR
(
XLP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose 1.7%, the Pharmaceutical HOLDR
(
PPH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) 1.4%.
The Biotech HOLDR
(
BBH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) managed a
1.5% bounce after three down days.
On the downside, the Internet HOLDR
(
HHH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
fell 9.5% to a new low. The HOLDR was hammered by its two largest components:
Yahoo
(
YHOO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 14.7%, and America Online
(
AOL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 9.0%.
The Internet Infrastructure HOLDR
(
IIH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
lost 6.3%, the Dow Jones Internet iShares
(
IYV |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) 5.4%, the Consumer Services
SPDR
(
XLV |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) 2.3%, the Semiconductor HOLDR
(
SMH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) 2.3%.
If you’re new to exchange-traded funds,
be sure to visit TradingMarkets’ Knowledge Center,
dedicated to explaining the basics of trading and active investing in ETFs and
mutual funds. Just click on the Funds tab
near the top of this page, then click on the Knowledge
Center tab.Â
You also will find lessons on trading
exchange-traded funds in the Stocks Education area of TradingMarkets.com. In
particular, check out my three-part series on trading ETFs, starting with
Average Crossovers. I also recommend newcomers read my tutorial,
HOLDRs: Unique Opportunity And Risk.