Energy ETFs Pull Back on Dip in Oil

It seemed like just a few months ago many prognosticators were cooing about how oil would eventually hit $150 a barrel, maybe even the $200 level. We wonder what they are saying this week. Oil traded off once again Thursday -- like it has every session this week -- on concerns about slowing global demand and a stronger dollar, which erodes oil's appeal as an inflation hedge. Crude fell by almost $2 and closed at just below $108 per barrel.

Meanwhile, stocks pulled back on poor retail sales, housing and jobs data. ADP (ADP) said private-sector payrolls shrunk by 33,000 jobs in August. The Department of Labor added that initial jobless claims for the week rose 15,000 to 440,000. Toll Brothers (TOL) said it lost 18 cents a share in its fiscal third quarter. That trio of events reminded traders that the U.S. is in the midst of an economic slump.

Indeed, there was a broad selloff of stocks on Thursday (although food stocks seemed to eke out gains). The Dow Jones Industrial Average 345 points to 11,188.

Thursday's selloff didn't discriminate against any sector in particular -- the entire stock market took it on the chin. However, some investors using ETFs designed to short specific benchmarks made out OK. The top 30 performing ETFs were short-focused funds. The ProShares Ultrashort Basic Materials (SMN) gained 7.8%.

As oil declined so, too, did natural resources ETFs. The SPDR S&P Metals & Mining fund (XME) dropped 5.8%. The United States Oil fund (USO) lost 1.5%.

Filing Status * Index Universe is reporting that Pimco, the legendary bond shop, has filed with the SEC to launch a series of stock and bond ETFs. No word on when the funds would start trading hands.

Earnings & Conference Calls
Friday: National Semiconductor, Peerless Manufacturing

Economic Data
Friday
8:30 a.m. August Nonfarm Payrolls
8:30 a.m. August Unemployment Rate

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