Credit: Shutterstock photoCinthia Murphy, Managing Editor, ETF.com
So far, 2018 has not been easy on U.S. investors, who’ve been faced with everything from geopolitical concerns to talk of trade wars to inflation fears to volatility. Market returns in this noisy background have been muted, at best.
But in the ETF space, there are some pearls of stellar performance this year that stand out against the market’s biggest strategies, such as the SPDR S&P 500 Trust (SPY). Including ETFs that use leverage or focus on volatility, the list of top-performing strategies is led by a group of VIX-related ETFs, led by the REX VolMAXX Long VIX Weekly Futures Strategy ETF (VMAX). Year-to-date, VMAX has risen almost 100%.
Top-Performing ETFs Of 2018 (all-encompassing)
Note: Data measures the total return for the year-to-date period through April 10.
Performance among all ETFs, excluding leveraged, inverse and volatility-based funds, tell another story, one in which commodity ETFs are finally having their day in the sun.
Leading the pack is a pair of cocoa funds—with those prices just now coming off 10-year lows. The iPath Bloomberg Cocoa Subindex Total Return ETN (NIB) and the iPath Pure Beta Cocoa ETN (CHOC) are each up about 33% year-to-date.
Top-Performing ETFs Of 2018 (excluding leveraged/inverse/volatility)
Note: Data measures the total return for the year-to-date period through April 10.
Rewards In Vice
Another interesting pocket of ETFs delivering some good performance is what some would consider the “good times” ETFs, or the so-called vice ETFs, which bet on alcohol, gaming and gambling, tobacco and/or marijuana companies.
These thematic funds are still relatively small, definitely not cheap, but are growing. In the past year, some of them have delivered solid returns, as seen below:
Sources: ETF.com, FactSet. Data as of April 11, 2018
Past performance offers no indication of future performance, as we well know. But in a market where SPY is barely shelling out 1% in returns year-to-date, these pockets of performance stand out.
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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.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
