Financial ETFs End Week in the Black

Market Wrap-Up


Heavy trading Friday in the shares of

Microsoft

Google

Merrill Lynch

Ordinarily, a trifecta like that would translate into a bad day for stocks. But all that news was countered by a decent quarter from Citigroup and IBM. A plan to raise $5.5 billion through a stock offering also breathed some life into the moribund shares of Freddie Mac.

No doubt investors will be relieved to put this week behind them. It started Monday after a weekend of wheeling and dealing that had the federal government announcing possible plans to buy stakes in Freddie and Fannie Mae. The shares of those two beleaguered mortgage giants were battered. But then on Wednesday Wells Fargo surprised the market when it announced Street-beating quarterly earnings. That news started a record three-day rally in financial stocks.

Also helping stocks was a four-day pullback in crude oil prices. Investors have been worrying that slowing global economic growth will eventually lead to diminished needs for oil. The per-barrel price of crude finished the week at $129. It was at $145 a week ago.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the week up 49 points to 11,496.

Winners


The dramatic turnaround in financial stocks made the ETFs that focus on that sector not only one of Friday's best performers but it also put them easily in the black for a week. The

SPDR Select Financials

iShares Dow Jones U.S. Financial Services fund

If, indeed, the government launches a plan to help out Fannie and Freddie and the companies can raise capital that could bode well for the housing market. At least that's what some investors seemed to be betting on this week. The SPDR S&P Homebuilders gained 10.6% for the week.

Losers


Energy ETFs aren't used to being in the basement. But that is exactly where many of them found themselves this week. Bloomberg reported that fuel consumption fell 3% in the first half of 2008, the largest drop during that period in 17 years. Traders have been anticipating that slower economic growth and high gas prices will lead to a cutback in demand. Oil, coal and other energy commodities fell most of the week.

The Market Vectors Coal ETF dropped 3.3% on Friday and 14.2% over the last five trading sessions. For the week, the United States Gasoline fund and the United States Oil ETF decreased 11.1% and 11.3%, respectively.

The Week's Industry Headlines


Launching Pad


Van Eck's Market Vectors Africa fund

Next Week's Notebook


Keep an eye on the stock market Tuesday. Financial firms like

Wachovia

Washington Mutual

Caterpillar

UnitedHealth

UPS

DuPont

Earnings
Monday: Albermale Corp., American Mobile, Ametek, Apple, Bank of America, Boston Scientific, Canadian National Railway, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Equifax, Hasbro, Hercules, Idex, Lacrosse, Logitech, Merck, Mohawk, PetMed Express, SanDisk, Schering-Plough, Texas Instruments

Tuesday: Baker Hughes, Biogen, Broadcom, Caterpillar, CEC Entertainment, Cerner, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Corn Products International, Domino's DuPont, E*Trade, Fifth Third, Forest Laboratories, Freeport McMoRan, Freescale Semiconductor, Halliburton, JetBlue, KeyCorp, Lockheed Martin, Nabors, Norfolk Southern, Panera Bread, Raymond James, SunTrust, UAL, UPS, UnitedHealth Group, Wachovia, Washington Mutual, Western Union, XTO Energy, Yahoo

Wednesday: Affiliated Managers Group, Aflac, Airgas, AllianceBernstein, Allstate, Amazon.com, Ameriprise, Anheuser-Busch, Ariba, AT&T, Boeing, Carter's, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Coachmen, Cohen & Steers, ConocoPhillips, Deltic Timber, EMC, Ethan Allen, Fair Isaac, General Dynamics, GlaxoSmithKline, Hershey, Judson City Bancorp, Jakks Pacific, McDonald's, McKesson, New York Times, Noble Corp., NutriSystem, Pepsico, Praxair, Pulte Homes, Travelers, Tractor Supply, WellPoint, Whirlpool, Wyeth

Thursday: 3M, AmeriSourceBergen, Baldor Electric, Build-A-Bear, Bunge, Canon, Celgene, Chubb, Credit Suisse, Crown Castle, Diamond Offshore, Dover Downs, East West Bancorp, Eli Lilly, EnCana, Flextronics, Friedman Billings Ramsey, Goodrich, Ikon Office Solutions, Kimberly Clarke, Level 3, MeadWestvaco, Newmont Mining, Occidental Petroleum, Old Republic International, Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, RadioShack, Raytheon, Rohm & Haas, Roper, Syngenta, The Cheesecake Factory, The Dow Chemical Corp., TravelZoo, Union Pacific, Wynn Resorts, Zimmer

Friday: Arch Coal, Black & Decker, Coventry Health, Fortune Brands, Honda, ITT, Legg Mason, Republic Services, T. Rowe Price

Economic Data
Monday: Conference Board Leading Indicators (10 a.m.)

Tuesday: Chain Store Sales (7:45 a.m.), Retail Sales (8:55 a.m.), Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index (10 a.m.)

Thursday: Initial Jobless Claims (8:30 a.m.), Existing Home Sales (10 a.m.), Business Barometer (10 a.m.)

Friday: Durable Goods (8:30 a.m.), New Home Sales (10 a.m.)

Quick Take

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

10 Largest ETFs

SymbolNet AssetsPrice52 Week High52 Week LowVolume

SPY

71,655

126.05

156.39

121.48

251,974,642

EFA

43,645

67.13

85.64

64.79

14,270,754

EEM

20,935

129.87

165.39

117.49

16,723,644

GLD

NA

94.19

99.81

65.04

8,581,921

IVV

16,690

126.06

156.65

121.69

4,102,994

QQQQ

16,302

44.74

55.03

41.17

160,193,004

IWF

13,253

53.87

63.64

52.79

5,297,437

SHY

9,070

82.68

84.49

80

1,189,792

VTI

10,116

63.1

77.66

60.89

3,186,927

IWD

8,091

67.71

88.93

64.01

3,586,783

INVESTOR CENTER

MARKETS:
Chart
TODAY
Portfolio Chart

RESEARCH STOCKS & FUNDS

Subscriber Tool

Stock Screener

Screen over 7,000 stocks using more than 100 different variables.

Portfolio Tracker

Track your own buys and sells

See More Tools

Answer Engine
Find Answers to Life's Challenges  

Find solutions to this and many other problems using

Answer Engine from SmartMoney. 

Copyright 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit
www.djreprints.com.