ETF Volatility On Low Volume
The tech-focused tradable funds moved
ahead Tuesday while financial and Old Economy funds backpedaled. Much of the
tech action was in keeping with the prior session’s volatility but with little volume to lend authority to the price moves.
The Infrastructure HOLDR
(
IIH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
which led the prior session’s downside movement among the exchange-traded
funds with a 6.4% loss, closed up 6.8% on Tuesday.
The move in the Internet
Infrastructure HOLDR and many of its components came on less-than-impressive
volume. Among its components, Akamai
(
AKAM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gained 10.4%, BEA Systems
(
BEAS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
25.3%, and E.piphany
(
EPNY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) 17.1%.
The Internet HOLDR
(
HHH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose
6.8%, the Dow Jones Internet iShares
(
IYV |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) 6.3%, the Dow Jones
Telecommunications iShares
(
IYZ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) 4.8%, and the Telecom HOLDR
(
TTH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) 4.6%. This
last one has followed through nicely off its lows. Note the volume and relative
strength line.
On the downside, the Basic Industries
SPDR
(
XLB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) lost 4.1%, the Dow Jones Chemical iShares
(
IYD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) lost 3.3%. The
Broadband HOLDR
(
BDH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) fell 2.1% in apparent reaction to the prior session’s
4.5% gain. The Energy SPDR
(
XLE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gave up 2.1% and the Dow Jones Financial
iShares
(
IYF |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) lost 1.8%.
The top field of all charts in this
commentary uses a logarithmic price scale and displays a 50-day price average in
red. In the second field, a
blue relative strength line represents the displayed security’s price
performance relative to the S&P 500. The third field displays vertical daily
volume bars in black with a 50-day moving average in blue for volume.
If you’re new 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.
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.