American equity markets were flat again today as traders
patiently await key meetings from central banks and economic
reports to decide equities' path in September. With this backdrop,
the Dow added about 12 points while the broader indexes finished in
the red as the Nasdaq slumped by 0.2% and the S&P 500 fell by
0.1%.
From a sector look, oil and the broad transport sector were the
biggest losers on the day, although their respective industries did
see relatively mixed trading, while banking, health care, and
entertainment were the few sectors that definitively finished in
the green. In terms of standouts, UNP, COP, and UPS all finished
the session lower by at least 2.3% while on the upside, GS and CLF
both added more than 3% in Wednesday's trading (see
4 International ETFs Yielding more than 5%
).
Meanwhile, the dollar also trended lower on the day, although
strength was seen against the euro and the pound in the session.
Rates had the opposite path, as safe havens saw yields rise while
Italian and Spanish bonds continued to fall with both falling by
about 16 basis points on the day.
Commodities were also weaker despite the uncertainty in the
dollar, as gold was flat and oil only added a few cents on the
session. Investors did see, on the other hand, strong performances
in some soft commodities, although wheat, corn, and sugar all fell
in Wednesday trading (read
Invest like Mitt Romney with these Three ETFs
).
In ETF trading, volume took a slight step back across the board
as lower-than-average trading levels were seen in a variety of
assets. Activity was especially light in a number of commodity
ETFs, although there was lackluster trading in a few major equity
ETFs that target broad markets as well.
Particularly, ETF investors saw an outsized level of interest in
the
iShares MSCI Germany Index ETF (
EWG
)
during Wednesday trading. The fund usually sees about 4.3
million shares change hands in a normal day, but over 22 million
shares moved hands in mid-week trading (see
The Comprehensive Guide to German ETF Investing
).
The product looks to be in focus tomorrow as well with the ECB
meeting, although it should be noted that investors are certainly
feeling good about the fund as of late. In fact, EWG added about
0.7% today, helping to cancel out last week's slump and suggesting
that a decent day could be in store for the fund tomorrow as
well.
Another fund which saw volume levels that exceeded norms was the
iShares S&P Global Technology ETF (
IXN
)
. This fund usually does about 45,000 shares in volume in a normal
day but saw roughly 10x that move hands in today's session (also
read
Why SSDD is the Top Tech ETF
).
The burst in volume came despite a pretty flat session overall
for the fund, as the product lost about 0.1% on the day.
Furthermore, many of the top holdings in the fund saw below-average
volume days for their individual stocks, suggesting that a broad
look at the sector was in vogue today as opposed to individual
security selection, at least among some traders that look at the
international tech space.
(see more in the
Zacks ETF
Center
)
Disclosure: long EWG.
ISHARS-GERMANY (EWG): ETF Research Reports
ISHARS-GLB TECH (IXN): ETF Research Reports
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