Worst Performing ETFs Of 2016 To Date

In Tuesday's article listing the top-performing ETFs of 2016 so far, there wasn't much diversity. Every one of the top 10 was a gold miners ETF.

For better or for worse, that's not the case for the bottom-performers list, which features a much more wide-ranging group of funds. From health care to commodities to China, there's a host of different types of ETFs that are faring poorly this year.

That's unsurprising considering that the broad market is still down for the year even after stocks rallied strongly in the second half of February and the first session of March. As of the close on March 1, the SPDR S&P 500 (SPY | A-98) was down 2.9% year-to-date.

That compares to losses for the 15 ETFs at the bottom of the heap so far in 2016 that range from 23.1% to as much as 46.1%.

Two Troubled ETNs

Taking the Nos. 1 and 2 positions on this worst-performers list are two exchange-traded notes with little in the way of assets.

The iPath Global Carbon ETN (GRN | F) dropped more than 46% just in the first two months of the year, following the carbon credit market lower.

Meanwhile, the thinly traded iPath Bloomberg Natural Gas Subindex Total Return ETN (GAZ | F-65) lost 43.2% through March 1. Effectively a broken product, GAZ has been closed to new creations for some time now, which has led to big distortions in the price of the ETN.

Issuer Barclays has warned that GAZ may cease to trade or may decline to zero if natural gas prices continue to tumble.

Biotech Hammered

The ETFs that appeared the most on the worst-performers list are those related to health care―specifically, biotech. A total of six health care funds were in the bottom 15 as the sector tanked to start the year.

Scandal grips some of the top names in the industry, while the specter of political uncertainty and potential regulations also hangs over the biotech space.

The BioShares Biotechnology Clinical Trials ETF (BBC), the ALPS Medical Breakthroughs ETF (SBIO), and the PowerShares Dynamic Biotech & Genome ETF (PBE | B-49) are a few of this year's dismal biotech performers. Losses for these ETFs range from 23.1% to 38.6%.

NatGas & China Struggle

Last year, energy ETFs dominated the bottom-performers list. So far this year, they're still doing poorly, but to a lesser degree.

In addition to GAZ, another natural gas product―the First Trust ISE-Revere Natural Gas ETF (FCG | B-95)―made the cut with a loss of 23.5%.

So too did the PowerShares Dynamic Energy Exploration & Production ETF (PXE | B-65), a product that in addition to holding E&P companies, is heavily on oil refiners. PXE shed 22.6% this year.

Finally, one familiar area that's struggled and dominated the headlines for months is China. Thus, it's not a shock to see two ETFs related to that country perform particularly poorly.

The Market Vectors ChinaAMC SME-ChiNext ETF (CNXT | D-54)―last year's top-performing ETF―is down 28.6% so far this year, while the Deutsche X-trackers Harvest CSI 500 China A-Shares ETF (ASHS | F-57) is down 26.8%.

15 Worst-Performing ETFs Of 2016 To-Date

Ticker	Fund	TD Return (%)
GRN	iPath Global Carbon ETN	-46.13
GAZ	iPath Bloomberg Natural Gas Subindex Total Return ETN	-43.24
BBC	BioShares Biotechnology Clinical Trials	-37.63
SBIO	ALPS Medical Breakthroughs	-31.23
DPU	DB Commodity Long ETN	-29.51
CNXT	Market Vectors ChinaAMC SME-ChiNext	-28.61
ASHS	Deutsche X-trackers Harvest CSI 500 China-A Shares Small Cap	-26.8
CNCR	Loncar Cancer Immunotherapy	-25.96
DXJF	WisdomTree Japan Hedged Financials	-25.03
PBE	PowerShares Dynamic Biotech & Genome	-24.46
PTH	PowerShares DWA Healthcare Momentum	-23.99
TAN	Guggenheim Solar	-23.92
FCG	First Trust ISE-Revere Natural Gas	-23.54
BBP	BioShares Biotechnology Products	-23.1
PXE	PowerShares Dynamic Energy Exploration & Production	-22.64

Data through March 1, 2016

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Contact Sumit Roy at [email protected].