ETFs Fall Flat During Lackluster Session

Stocks remained range-bound Tuesday, as traders' trepidations exposed further broad uncertainty. Only the Nasdaq showed some improvement, finishing at its highest level since October. The tech sector, buoyed by Texas Instruments' (TXN) improved guidance and smartphone launches from Apple (AAPL) and Palm (PALM), played a part in the Nasdaq’s rise. The Dow Jones Industrial Index shed one point to close at 8763. For a complete rundown of Tuesday’s trading session, see our market story.

Across-the-board increases in energy and gold prices gave a boost to the SPDR S&P Metals & Mining fund (XME). It rose 4.6%. Texas Instruments helped boost the domestically-focused Semiconductor HOLDRS ETF (SMH) 3.9%.

Concerns that expectations of China's recovery are overdone took a toll on the iShares MSCI Hong Kong fund (EWH), which lost 2.0%. Worries that a rally in its major semiconductor makers is moving ahead of market fundamentals knocked back the chip-heavy iShares MSCI Taiwan fund (EWT) by 1.7%.

Launching Pad
IndexIQ on Tuesday launched the IQ Hedge Macro Tracker exchange-traded fund. The underlying index invests in stocks, bonds, currencies and commodities. It also focuses on investment opportunities in Brazil, Russia, India and China. The IQ fund’s total annual operating expenses are estimated to be 1.14%, according to its prospectus.

Grail Advisors, the San Francisco asset manager, plans to launch four more actively managed funds: the RP Growth fund, the RP Focused Large Cap Growth fund, the RP Financials fund and the RP Technology fund. All will charge an annual expense ratio of 0.89%. RiverPark Advisors will serve as the subadvisor for the four new funds.

Van Eck Global is seeking permission from the Securities and Exchange Commission to launch an ETF that invests in an index of small- and midcap gold and silver mining companies. The Market Vector Metals fund will concentrate on companies that are primarily in the research and exploration stage.

ALPS Fund Services, a service provider for exchange-traded funds and mutual funds, plans to launch five of its own ETFs. The Agricultural Producers, Energy Producers, Industrial Metals Producers , Precious Metals Producers and Commodity Producers Composite funds will invest in global equities based on their underlying indexes. Expense information for the proposed funds was not available.

Earnings and Conference Calls
Brown-Forman, Isle of Capri Casinos, Luby's, Spartech, Volt Information Sciences

Economic Data
7:00 a.m. June 5 Mortgage Refinance Applications
8:30 a.m. April Trade Balance
10:30 a.m. June 5 U.S. Energy Dept. Oil Inventories
2:00 p.m. May Federal Budget Balance
2:00 p.m. Federal Reserve Beige Book

A look at how the industry's most popular ETFs did on Wednesday: