Financial ETFs Lead Market Lower

Inaugurating a new president didn’t discharge any of the market’s familiar woes Tuesday as trading resumed to start a holiday-shortened week.

Investor dreams that the financial-services sector was on its way to stability were dashed as institutional investment firm State Street (STT) warned of further write-downs. Its shares lost more than 50% of their value, dragging down Bank of America (BAC), Bank of New York Mellon (BK), PNC Financial Services Group (PNC) and Wells Fargo (WFC). Across the Atlantic, huge losses from Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) spurred fears that some United Kingdom banks would be fully nationalized to stave off their collapse.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 4% and dipped below 8,000 to close at 7,949, its lowest close since Nov. 20.

Oil was volatile on Tuesday, closing up at $38.74 a barrel after slipping below the $33 level earlier in the session.

Betting against financial stocks was the right move Tuesday. The UltraShort Financials ProShares (SKF) fund closed up 28.8%.

Financial-services ETFs led the plunge, with the Regional Bank HOLDRS (RKH) closing down 23.5% and the iShares Dow Jones U.S. Financial Services (IYG) decreasing 17.2%. The SPDR KBW Bank fund (KBE) closed down 19.6% and the SPDR Select Financials fund (XLF) took a 16.5% hit.

Launching Pad
Trading began Tuesday for the Market Vectors Indonesia ETF, sponsored by Van Eck Global. The fund is focused on Indonesian equities based on the Market Vectors Indonesia index, which tracks 25 companies that derive at least 50% of their revenue from the region.

Apple, BlackRock, eBay, Philip Morris International, Sara Lee

7:00 a.m. MBA Mortgage Application Refinance Index
7:45 a.m. ICSC Chain Store Sales Index
8:55 a.m. Redbook Retail Sales Index
1:00 p.m. Jan. NAHB Housing Index

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