Brazil ETF Jumps as Market Cools

Market Wrap-Up

The Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee cut the federal-funds rate by a quarter point to 2%. Investors were expecting such a move. However, they ended the day Monday trying to decipher the committee's press release. "Recent information indicates that economic activity remains weak. Financial markets remain under considerable stress, and tight credit conditions and the deepening housing contraction are likely to weigh on economic growth over the next few quarters," explained the committee. "Although readings on core inflation have improved somewhat, energy and other commodity prices have increased, and some indicators of inflation expectations have risen in recent months. The Committee expects inflation to moderate in coming quarters... Still, uncertainty about the inflation outlook remains high."

Winners

Although most of the attention during Wednesday's trading session was focused on Wall Street, the big winners were south of the U.S.'s borders. Brazil was reportedly raised to investment grade by Standard & Poor's due to the country's growing economy and the fact that it has reduced debt. That news lifted a series of emerging-market ETFs that focus on South America and Latin America. IShares MSCI Brazil (EWZ) gained 8.2%. IShares S&P Latin America 40 (ILF) moved up 5.5%.

Losers

Home builders sank lower as investors digested poor data from earlier in the week and debated whether the Fed would stop cutting rates at its next meeting. The SPDR S&P Homebuilders (XHB) decreased 3.7%. The iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction fund (ITB) lost 3.8%.

Thursday's Notebook

Look for Exxon Mobil (XOM) to announce another record quarter of earnings.

Earnings

Thursday: Aon, Applied Micro Circuits, Automatic Data Processing, Bankrate, Bebe, Burger King, Callaway Golf, Cardinal Health, CenturyTel, Chesapeake Energy, Chiquita, Cigna, Clorox, Coinstar, Comcast, Dominion Resources, Exxon, Gaylord Entertainment, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, MetLife, Monster, Nicor, Noble Energy, Oshkosh, Revlon, Tyco Electronics, Xcel Energy

Economic Data

Thursday: Initial Jobless Claims (8:30 a.m.), Personal Income (8:30 a.m.), Personal Spending (8:30 a.m.), ISM Manufacturing Index (10 a.m.), Construction Spending (10 a.m.), Business Barometer (10 a.m.)

Quick Take

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

10 Largest ETFs
Symbol	Net Assets	Price	52 Week High	52 Week Low	Volume
SPY	82,300	138.42	156.39	127.71	200,976,016
EFA	45,423	75.76	85.64	67.18	9,389,855
EEM	23,848	146.66	165.39	117.49	19,108,559
GLD	NA	86.65	99.81	63.55	17,659,743
IVV	16,409	138.65	156.65	127.94	3,999,352
QQQQ	17,038	47.21	55.03	41.17	130,591,437
IWF	12,858	57.44	63.64	52.79	2,817,260
SHY	9,574	83.33	84.49	79.64	398,788
VTI	9,779	137.44	155.31	126.28	83,995
IWD	8,328	76.45	89.77	70.41	461,500

Follow SmartMoney on Facebook, Twitter & More: