ETFs Dip on Uncertainty of Auto Bailout

For the second straight session investors waited for some kind of clarity on a proposed Congressional bailout plan for the nation's leading auto makers. The Bush administration's $14 billion plan  — and others that are making the rounds — seems to lack enough votes to pass the Senate. No doubt there is a lot of backdoor brokering going on in Washington.

Also weighing heavily on trading was a Department of Labor report that showed weekly initial jobless claims climbed to 573,000, the most in over two decades. Rising unemployment is lining up to be a serious issue in the first days of 2009. The U.S. trade deficit also grew.

Oil surged due to headlines signaling OPEC would announce a cut in crude production when it meets next week. The price of a barrel jumped almost $4 to the $47 level.

The Dow Jones Industrial Averaged tipped into negative territory the entire session. The dip surged toward the close and when the bell was finally rung the benchmark finished down 196 points to 8,565.

Energy-related ETFs were the session's big gainers. The United States Oil ETF (USO) and its sister fund, United States Gasoline (UGA) jumped 7.8% and 8.8%, respectively.

The financial-services industry was a laggard Thursday. Rising unemployment, deteriorating fundamentals, analyst downgrades and continuing concerns about their financial health — even after government assistance — made for a rough day for regional banks. The iShares Dow Jones U.S. Regional Banking ETF (IAT) dropped 7.9%.

Launching Pad
Vanguard announced it has filed with the SEC for approval of the Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-U.S. Small Cap ETF. The ETF will track a benchmark consisting of more than 3,300 companies in 47 countries.

Claymore filed with the SEC to launch the Claymore/NYSE Arca Airline ETF. This fund will track 24 companies in that industry.

8:30a.m. Nov. Producer Price Index
8:30a.m. Nov. PPI, Ex-Food & Energy
8:30a.m. Nov. Retail Sales
8:30a.m. Nov. Retail Sales, Ex-Autos
10:00a.m. Oct. Business Inventories
10:00a.m. Mid-Dec Reuters/Univ. of Mich. Sentiment Index

A look at how the industry's most popular ETFs did on Thursday.