Telecom ETFs Jump on AT&T Numbers

Market Wrap-Up

Traders had a dizzying array of corporate earnings releases to decipher Wednesday. And while some blue chips managed to post decent results, others seemed to indicate that there were still some rough waters to navigate going forward.

AT&T (T) reported that its quarterly earnings increased 34% from last year thanks, in part, to the new Apple (AAPL) iPhone 3G. Wellpoint (WLP) and UnitedHealth (UNH), two bellwethers of the health-care provider set, announced quarterly earnings per share of $1.44 and 67 cents, respectively. Those numbers were down from last year but ahead of analyst estimates. Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) gained ground after Congress appeared to have hammered out an agreement to help out the two beleaguered mortgage companies. Pulling back were Boeing (BA), which said its net income for the quarter dropped 19%, and Costco (COST), which lowered its guidance, citing high energy costs.

Meanwhile, oil continued its slide. Crude fell on government reports that showed weekly inventory levels decreased but not by as much as expected. That's a strong signal cash-strapped consumers are cutting back on driving. As energy prices cooled off and the dollar strengthened investors sold off traditional inflation hedges like gold and precious metals. Oil closed down $4 a barrel to $124. Gold finished down $29, to $919 an ounce.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 30 points to close at 11,632.

Winners

Washington Mutual (WM) posted a loss of $3.3 billion. But financials managed to gain on the backs of Fannie and Freddie, which both rose just over 11% each Wednesday. The iShares Dow Jones U.S. Financial Sector ETF (IYG) increased 1.3%.

AT&T's rosy numbers helped push the shares of Vanguard Telecommunication Services fund (VOX) up 2.8%. This fund has a 20% weighting in that company. However, the one-day jump isn't indicative of the year this fund is having. It's down 19.8% year to date.

Losers

As crude has pulled back the last few trading sessions, energy ETFs have taken that drop on the chin. Wednesday was no different. The iShares Dow Jones U.S. Energy Sector ETF (IYE) dropped 5.7%. Ten of the 15 worst-performing ETFs Wednesday focused on energy.

Thursday's Notebook

Earnings
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

Economic Data
Initial Jobless Claims (8:30 a.m.), Existing Home Sales (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	71,655	128.37	156.39	121.48	298,481,263
EFA	43,645	68.03	85.64	64.79	10,135,664
EEM	20,935	131.74	165.39	117.49	15,248,422
GLD	NA	90.57	99.81	65.04	25,785,605
IVV	16,690	128.43	156.65	121.69	6,838,879
QQQQ	16,302	45.37	55.03	41.17	162,499,744
IWF	13,253	54.3	63.64	52.79	3,104,673
SHY	9,070	82.64	84.49	80.13	214,579
VTI	10,116	64.36	77.66	60.89	546,003
IWD	8,091	69.59	88.24	64.01	2,694,081