Lower Oil Prices Weigh Down ETFs

A further slide in oil prices pushed major indexes lower Tuesday. Crude dropped below $63 a barrel in afternoon trading, prompting a gloomy outlook among stock investors and the Energy Select Sector SPDR fund (XLE) to lose some ground.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 161 points to close at 8164. The Nasdaq dipped 41 points to 1746 and the S&P 500 was down 18 to close at 881.

There was some positive news as investors prepared for the second-quarter earnings season, which unofficially kicks off on Wednesday. Intel (INTC) and Marvell Technology Group (MRVL) received upgrades from Bank of America (BAC), which boosted its view on the overall semiconductor sector, citing renewed demand and improving inventory conditions.

For a detailed rundown on Tuesday’s trading session see our market story.

Betting against energy was the smart play Tuesday, as traders pushed up shares of the Direxion Daily Energy Bear 3X fund (ERY) by 7.7%. Among unleveraged funds, investors turned to the safe haven of Treasurys, with the iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond fund (TLT) notching a 0.7% gain.

Among unleveraged, heavily traded ETFs, a drop in Asian markets hit the iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index fund (FXI) hard. It closed down 3.6%. The iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return ETN (OIL) dropped 3.1%.

Data Point
Direxion, the Newton, Mass.-based sponsor of leveraged and short-bias exchange-traded funds, announced a 5-for-1 reverse split of its Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3x Shares (FAS) and a 1-for-10 reverse split of shares of the Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3x Shares (FAZ) after the Wednesday market close. Based on Tuesday’s closing prices, the reverse splits will raise the per-share cost of FAZ from $5.39 a share to $53.90 a share and boost the price of FAS from $7.89 a share to $39.45 a share. The split will reduce the cost of trading, which has increased proportionally as share prices have declined, the firm said.

Launching Pad
Denver-based APLS on Tuesday launched its first Equal Sector ETF, trading under the ticker symbol EQL. The fund is comprised of ETFs and will track the performance of the Banc of America Securities – Merrill Lynch Equal Sector Weight Index by owning each of the nine Select Sector SPDR ETFs in equal weights. It's the second ETF sponsored by ALPS, a third-party distributor and asset servicing company. The new fund will charge an annual fee of 0.55%.

Earnings and Conference Calls
Alcoa, Family Dollar, Nu Horizons Electronic, Pepsi Bottling Group, Rodman & Renshaw, WD-40

Economic Data
3:00 p.m. May Consumer Credit

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