Tradable Funds Tread Water
Monday brought a quiet session among
the tradable funds with most baskets and indexes marking time.
The Dow Jones Chemical iShares
(
IYD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
lost 2.2%, the day’s biggest loss among the exchange-traded funds. The Basic
Industries SPDR
(
XLB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), which contains a 59% weighting in chemical stocks,
pulled back 1.4%. The two tradable funds share such components as DuPont
(
DD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
down 2.2%, and Dow Chemical
(
DOW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 2.4%.
The Cyclicals-Transportation SPDR
(
XLY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
gave up 1.8%.
Among the financials, the Financial
SPDR
(
XLF |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) declined 1.6%, the Dow Jones Financial Services iShares
(
IYG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
1.3%, the Dow Jones Financial iShares
(
IYF |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) 1.2%.
The upside was limited to sub-1%
gains. The Consumer Staples SPDR
(
XLP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) inched up 0.6%, the Utility HOLDR
(
UTH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
0.6%, the Pharmaceutical HOLDR
(
PPH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) 0.4%.
Exchange-traded
funds combine traits
of stocks and mutual funds. Like mutual funds, an ETF represents diversified
ownership in a number of different stocks. Like stocks, ETFs trade on exchanges, nearly all of them in fact trade on
the American Stock Exchange at present. They quote throughout the day, enabling
traders to take advantage of intraday price moves.
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 can find further information, including
component stocks, at the following sites: www.amex.com
(click on the HOLDRS and Exchange-Traded Funds links), www.ishares.com
and www.holdrs.com.