The iPath Dow Jones-UBS Natural Gas Total Return ETN
(NYSEArca:GAZ) was the worst-performing exchange-traded product
Friday, falling more than 10 percent, as investors heeded a
Barclays warning that all but told them to get out of the ETN.
GAZ Fizzles
In an usual move, Barclays-GAZ's issuer-warned Friday that the
strategy's "persistent and material premium" relative to its
underlying value is likely to continue, meaning the fund's
performance should deviate from its underlying index.
The bank went as far as to say that it "believes" GAZ isn't
suitable for most investors. The ETNs creations were halted in
2009, presumably because Barclays was hitting, or worried about
hitting, position limits on its natural gas exposure.
It's been trading at a premium on and off ever since.
Facebook Letdown
Another big mover on the day was the Global X Social Media ETF
(NYSEArca:SOCL), which dropped 6.75 percent, making it the
second-worst-performer Friday.
The $19.7 million fund, which serves up broad exposure to the
global social media space, doesn't yet hold Facebook-its
methodology requires pure-play companies to be public for at least
six days before inclusion-but it still felt the weight of investor
disappointment at the company's initial public offering on
Friday.
Facebook shares ended their first day just 38 cents higher when
the broad stock market closed lower, showing some resilience
relative to the overall market. Still, the IPO clearly failed to
meet investor expectations.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 73.11 points, or 0.3
percent, to close at 12,369.38.
Sinking Oil Equals Sinking Solar
Another theme affecting the ETF market last week was the ongoing
decline in oil prices, now below $100 a barrel in U.S. futures
markets.
As investors continued to price in expectations for lower crude
oil demand coming from a troubled eurozone, funds that offer
exposure to alternative energy looked less attractive than they
usually do when oil prices are moving higher.
The Guggenheim Solar ETF (NYSEArca:TAN) and the Market Vectors
Solar Energy ETF (NYSEArca:KWT) dropped 5.2 and 4.2 percent,
respectively, on the day.
Top Performers
The United States Natural Gas Fund (NYSEArca:UNG) was one of the
best-performing ETFs Friday, perhaps benefiting in part by
investors bailing out of its competitor, GAZ.
UNG gained 2.75 percent on the day amid hefty trading volume of
more than 13.7 million shares.
Aside from that, investors continued to express their concerns
about the broad stock market going forward by betting on
volatility-linked funds, which again topped the list of best
performers Friday.
The four most popular funds that day were linked to the VIX
index, also known as the fear gauge. Funds like the iPath S&P
500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (NYSEArca:VXX) gained more than 6
percent Friday.
Top 10 1-Day Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds
and 'lt;1,000 Shares Traded
| Ticker |
Name |
1-Day Performance |
1-Day Volume |
AUM ($, mm) |
| VXX |
iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN |
6.48% |
89,849,994 |
2,318.32 |
| VIXY |
ProShares VIX Short-Term |
6.27% |
1,865,929 |
204.15 |
| VIIX |
VelocityShares VIX Short Term ETN |
6.26% |
490,801 |
34.73 |
| CVOL |
C-Tracks Exchange-Traded Notes on the Citi
Volatility |
5.83% |
69,157 |
11.58 |
| WEAT |
Teucrium Wheat |
4.46% |
7,000 |
4.81 |
| GREK |
Global X FTSE Greece 20 |
3.57% |
30,022 |
2.11 |
| DJCI |
ETRACS DJ-Commodity Total Return ETN |
3.16% |
27,525 |
68.85 |
| UNG |
United States Natural Gas |
2.75% |
13,705,220 |
1,083.54 |
| FUD |
ETRACS CMCI Food Total Return ETN |
2.38% |
4,441 |
40.81 |
| EWP |
iShares MSCI Spain |
2.36% |
666,833 |
136.06 |
Bottom 10 1-Day Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse
Funds and 'lt;1,000 Shares Traded
| Ticker |
Name |
1-Day Performance |
1-Day Volume |
AUM ($, mm) |
| GAZ |
iPath Dow Jones-UBS Natural Gas Total Return ETN |
-10.03% |
586,207 |
40.50 |
| SOCL |
Global X Social Media |
-6.75% |
411,476 |
19.78 |
| EWSS |
iShares MSCI Singapore Small Cap |
-6.75% |
3,061 |
2.76 |
| TAN |
Guggenheim Solar |
-5.23% |
94,531 |
50.89 |
| EIPO |
ETRACS Next Generation Internet ETN |
-5.18% |
21,457 |
6.00 |
| KWT |
Market Vectors Solar Energy |
-4.21% |
47,946 |
9.38 |
| WREI |
Guggenheim Wilshire US REIT |
-3.95% |
20,534 |
10.11 |
| PYH |
PowerShares Morningstar Stock Investor Core
Portfolio |
-3.58% |
13,370 |
14.34 |
| EWUS |
iShares MSCI United Kingdom Small Cap |
-3.58% |
3,796 |
2.55 |
| QQQM |
Global X NASDAQ 400 Mid Cap |
-3.46% |
5,460 |
1.27 |
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.
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