Natural Gas ETFs Jump On Storm Worries

Wall Street shrugged off several pieces of unflattering market data to post a ho-hum trading session Tuesday. While consumer confidence inched up, new home sales dropped year-over-year and home prices continued to come down, too. Minutes from last month's meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee revealed the Fed downgrading growth expectations well into 2009. The release of last month's meeting of the Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee seemed to indicate a riff between the members not about whether to increase interest rates — that seems to be a given — but when to pull off such a move. Finally, Hurricane Gustav gained strength as it barreled toward Haiti. Forecasters seem to think it could put oil and natural gas assets in the Gulf of Mexico in jeopardy later on in the week. That caused the price of oil to increase just over $1 per barrel to the $116 level.

Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) managed to pull off another good day. A Citigroup analyst wrote that the companies probably had enough capital to get them through the end of the year. Shares of Fannie and Freddie jumped 8.3% and 20.7%, respectively.

In the technology sector, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) announced it had completed its $13.9 billion purchase of Electronic Data Systems (EDS).

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up a meager 27 points to 11,413.

The possibility of Hurricane Gustav knocking out natural gas assets in the Gulf of Mexico area was on the minds of many traders Tuesday. Indeed, many many seemed to be betting that there could be a shortage of this commodity soon. They bid up the price of the United States Natural Gas ETF (UNG) 5.8%.

The one-two combination of falling new home sales and declining prices spelled trouble for home builder ETFs. The iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction fund (ITB) lost 3.5%. The SPDR S&P Homebuilders fund (XHB) decreased 0.9%.

Launching Pad
Invesco PowerShares announced its Global Progressive Transportation Portfolio ETF will probably start trading hands on Sept. 18. The fund will track an index of companies involved in designing alternative vehicles, rail and subway systems, and other modes of efficient transportation along with the technology to run them. The companies are spread out across 14 countries, including the U.S., Italy, Canada, Japan and Taiwan.

Earnings & Conference Calls
Brown Shoe, Charming Shoppes, Coldwater Creek, Dollar Tree, Finlay Enterprises, Jo-Ann Stores, Men's Wearhouse, Talbots

Economic Data
8:30a.m. July Durable Goods

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