Credit: Shutterstock photoETFs focused on solar energy shined brightly in the past week, as financial markets breathed a collective sigh of relief after U.S. legislators averted, for now, the consequences of a sudden plunge off the so-called fiscal cliff.
The Market Vectors Solar Energy ETF (NYSEArca:KWT) and the Guggenheim Solar ETF (NYSEArca:TAN) each jumped more than 16 percent in the week ended Jan. 3, while the PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy Portfolio (NYSArca:PBW) First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy ETF (NasdaqGM:QCLN), each rose more than 7 percent.
China-focused ETFs were also all over the past week's top-performers list as well, with the Global X China Materials ETF (NYSEArca:CHIM) and the Guggenheim China Small Cap ETF (NYSEArca:HAO) adding 9.19 percent and 7.18 percent, respectively.
The clear relief in markets after Congress avoided the shock of a sudden increase in taxes and an equally abrupt drop in federal spending with a stop-gap agreement fueled pent-up rallies in some of the higher risk, higher beta, pockets of the equities universe. How the market reacts to further rancor in Washington, D.C. is anybody's guess, but for now the stock market is clearly on a bullish run.
The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 2.2 percent in the Thursday-to-Thursday period of our survey, which included the New Year's Day market holiday on Jan. 1. The market added 0.33 percent more on Friday, Jan. 4, making the post-'fiscal cliff' rally from Monday, Dec. 31 to Friday, Jan. 4 amount to a more than 4.5 percent move.
As far as the rallying stock market goes, volatility-focused exchange-traded products remain littered all over the worst-performers list and, in a potential sign of things to come, a long-dated Treasurys ETF was among the biggest-losing funds too.
The iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (NYSEArca:VXX) fell more than 16 percent in the five-day period ended Thursday, Jan. 3. VXX was the worst-performing ETP in 2012, losing more than three-quarters of its value.
One wonders if the presence of the PIMCO 25+ Year Zero Coupon U.S. Treasury ETF (NYSEArca:ZROZ) isn't a sign of things to come.
ZROZ, the very best performing ETF in all of 2011, now finds itself in the No. 10 spot on the bottom dwellers list.
If its performance worsens as 2012 takes shape, that certainly won't be fun for its owners, but it will probably suggest that the economic recovery is stabilizing and finally morphing into something approximating a bonafide period of steady, if sluggish, economic expansion.
Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and 'lt;1,000 Shares Traded
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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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.