Techs Slide, Financials Hold Up

Bad news from Microsoft sent the
tradable tech funds Friday to yet another losing session. Some of the Internet
funds, however, swam against the current, and I’m seeing encouraging signs in
the financial funds.

The Internet Architecture HOLDR
(
IAH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)

lost 5.2%, the day’s sharpest loss among the exchange-traded
funds
. The basket of stocks took a hit from component EMC
(
EMC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
,
which declined 8.7%.

The Technology SPDR
(
XLK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
shed
4.0%, the Wireless HOLDR
(
WMH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
3.6%, the Semiconductor HOLDR
(
SMH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
2.7%,
the Telecom HOLDR
(
TTH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
2.6%, the Nasdaq 100 Tracking Stock
(
QQQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
2.3%,
the Broadband HOLDR
(
BDH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
2.4%, the Biotech HOLDR
(
BBH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
1.4%. 

There is an interesting gathering of
relative strength in the financial-focused exchange traded. Look at the charts
of the Financial SPDR
(
XLF |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, off 0.8%; Regional Banking HOLDR
(
RKH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, up
0.1%; and Financial Services iShares
(
IYG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
. off 0.3%.

On the upside, the Dow Jones Internet
iShares
(
IYV |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
rose 2.1%, the Internet HOLDR
(
HHH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
1.2%.

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 to 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 href=”/.site/stocks/education/strategies/05262000-6129.cfm”>Moving
Average Crossovers. I also recommend newcomers read my tutorial, href=”/.site/stocks/education/strategies/06272000-6815.cfm”>Trading
HOLDRs: Unique Opportunity And Risk.