The Market Vectors Steel (AMEX: SLX) turned in the best first-halfperformance of any exchange-traded fund (ETF), posting a 42.46 percentrise since January. That easily topped the nearest competition, theiShares Brazil (NYSE: EWZ) fund, which turned in a 30.8% return.Clearly, metals, energy and emerging markets were the places to be forthe first half of this year.
The Market Vectors Steel (AMEX: SLX) turned in the best first-half performance of any exchange-traded fund (ETF), posting a 42.46 percent rise since January. That easily topped the nearest competition, the iShares Brazil (NYSE: EWZ) fund, which turned in a 30.8% return. Clearly, metals, energy and emerging markets were the places to be for the first half of this year.
|
Top Ten Performing ETFs - First Half, 2007 |
||||
|
Fund |
Ticker |
ER |
YTD |
3-Mo |
|
Market Vectors Steel Sector ETF |
SLX |
0.55 |
42.46 |
17.76 |
|
iShares Brazil |
EWZ |
0.74 |
30.83 |
24.23 |
|
PowerShares Dynamic Oil & Gas |
PXJ |
0.64 |
30 |
22.9 |
|
iShares Malaysia |
EWM |
0.57 |
28.35 |
8.68 |
|
WisdomTree International Basic Materials |
DBN |
0.58 |
28.31 |
14.56 |
|
SPDR Metals & Mining |
XME |
0.36 |
27.93 |
9.47 |
|
iShares DJ US Oil Equipment |
IEZ |
0.48 |
27.36 |
19.65 |
|
SPDR Oil & Gas Equip & Services |
XES |
0.36 |
25.79 |
17.39 |
|
iShares S&P Latin 40 |
ILF |
0.5 |
25.65 |
19.6 |
|
iShares SP Global Materials |
MXI |
0.48 |
24.82 |
13.54 |
On the other side of the table, the iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (NYSE: ITB) delivered the worst return, falling 25.8%, followed by the SPDR Homebuilders (AMEX: XHB) at negative 18.3%. Indeed, the "ten worst" list is dominated by the real estate and homebuilding industry, which truly took it on the chin in the beginning of this year.
|
Worst Ten Performing ETFs - First Half, 2007 |
||||
|
Fund |
Ticker |
ER |
YTD |
3-Mo |
|
iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction |
ITB |
0.48 |
-25.78 |
-8.32 |
|
SPDR Homebuilders |
XHB |
0.36 |
-18.31 |
-6.56 |
|
iShares C&S Realty |
ICF |
0.35 |
-8.57 |
-11.63 |
|
PowerShares Dynamic Banking Portfolio |
PJB |
0.6 |
-7.83 |
-4.87 |
|
streetTRACKS KBW Regional Bank |
KRE |
0.36 |
-7.04 |
-3.3 |
|
Market Vectors Gold Miners |
GDX |
0.55 |
-6.65 |
-3.87 |
|
SPDR DJ Wilshire REIT |
RWR |
0.26 |
-6.5 |
-9.8 |
|
Vanguard REIT Index |
VNQ |
0.12 |
-6.27 |
-9.35 |
|
iShares DJ Real Estate |
IYR |
0.6 |
-6.19 |
-8.71 |
|
iShares DJ Regional Banks |
IAT |
0.48 |
-3.96 |
-1.53 |
The list only includes ETFs that have been trading since January 2007.
On a broader basis, large-cap U.S. stocks outperformed small-caps in the first half, with the Russell 1000 returning 5.54% vs. 3.78% for the Russell 2000. Growth also outperformed value, with the growth version of each index beating out the value index easily. The place to be, however, was mid-caps, which easily outpaced large- and small-caps on all fronts.
|
Index |
Return |
Growth |
Value |
|
Russell 1000 |
5.54% |
5.95% |
4.98% |
|
Russell 2000 |
3.78% |
5.16% |
2.51% |
|
Russell Midcap |
8.52% |
8.35% |
8.15% |
A complete list of performance can be created and sorted using IndexUniverse.com's industry-leading data tool: www.indexuniverse.com/data.
