GREK was up, EGPT was down, as investors were all over the place in the week ended June 21.
Two Europe-focused funds were among the best-performing ETFs last week, but an Egypt fund was among the worst—a fitting sign of all the turmoil around the planet that investors are trying to make sense of.
The Global X FTSE Greece 20 ETF (NYSEArca: GREK), for instance, tagged on gains of more than 7.53 percent for the five trading days ended Thursday, June 21, while the iShares MSCI Finland Capped Investable Market Index Fund (BATS: EFNL) gained 5.44 percent in the same period.
GREK’s move suggests a relief rally, as investors bottom-fed on Europe’s most troubled country, while EFNL’s gains might best be viewed as something of intra-European flight-to-quality trade in the equities markets.
Meanwhile, the Market Vectors Egypt ETF (NYSEArca: EGPT) was one of the worst-performing funds, giving up 7.7 percent of its value. Investors fretted about the implications of Egypt’s first democratic election going to a putative Islamist candidate, Mohammed Morsi, who was backed by the Muslim Brotherhood. He was indeed elected to office in polling on Sunday.
Energy- and commodities-linked ETFs were also largely strong performers, though such funds were on IndexUniverse’s bottom-performers list too.
That mixed performance of European-linked ETFs and energy and commodities funds underscored the nervousness among investors who are coming to terms with the latest chapter in Europe’s debt crisis, as well as Moody’s 15-global-banks downgrade that took place last week.
The Dow Jones industrial average, which fell 250 points, or 2 percent, on Thursday, ended the five-day period down about 78.34 at 12,573.57 points. IndexUniverse tallies weekly performance from Thursday to Thursday.
The iPath Dow Jones-UBS Natural Gas Total Return ETN (NYSEArca: GAZ) was the No. 1-performing exchange-traded product in the five-day period, though its returns should be viewed critically to the extent that it was closed for creations, which means its price movement often doesn’t reflect its underlying net asset value.
Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded
| Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
| GAZ | iPath Dow Jones-UBS Natural Gas Total Return ETN | 16.94% | 895,316 | 35.01 |
| FUE | ELEMENTS MLCX Biofuels Total Return ETN | 10.69% | 5,164 | 2.20 |
| GREK | Global X FTSE Greece 20 | 7.53% | 408,208 | 5.36 |
| WEET | iPath Pure Beta Grains ETN | 6.61% | 3,180 | 2.22 |
| UAG | ETRACS CMCI Agriculture Total Return ETN | 5.57% | 6,220 | 13.29 |
| KWT | Market Vectors Solar Energy | 5.56% | 110,548 | 10.01 |
| ALUM | Global X Aluminum | 5.45% | 12,500 | 2.20 |
| EFNL | iShares MSCI Finland Capped Investable Market | 5.44% | 7,415 | 2.10 |
| TAN | Guggenheim Solar | 5.30% | 243,441 | 51.62 |
| LGEM | EGShares Basic Materials GEMS | 5.21% | 32,400 | 2.05 |
Bottom 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded
| Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
| CVOL | C-Tracks Exchange-Traded Notes on the Citi Volatility | -12.94% | 270,073 | 9.14 |
| DPU | PowerShares DB Commodity Long ETN | -10.74% | 4,794 | 5.31 |
| VXEE | ETRACS 5-Month S&P 500 VIX Futures ETN | -9.50% | 1,200 | 7.51 |
| VXCC | ETRACS 3-Month S&P 500 VIX Futures ETN | -9.35% | 24,400 | 6.80 |
| BNO | United States Brent Oil | -8.51% | 285,870 | 41.15 |
| VIXY | ProShares VIX Short-Term | -8.49% | 6,189,969 | 149.89 |
| VIIX | VelocityShares VIX Short Term ETN | -8.45% | 4,273,289 | 82.28 |
| VXX | iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN | -8.42% | 298,957,628 | 1,810.89 |
| VXBB | ETRACS 2-Month S&P 500 VIX Futures ETN | -8.20% | 3,800 | 5.70 |
| EGPT | Market Vectors Egypt | -7.72% | 173,794 | 36.18 |
Disclaimer: All data as of 6 a.m. Eastern time the date the article is published. Data is believed to be accurate; however, transient market data is often subject to subsequent revision and correction by the exchanges.
