ETF Leaders and Laggards

June 2, 2008

SAN DIEGO (ETFguide.com) - The first five months of they year have quickly passed and top performing areas of the market have made their mark.

Among the exchange-traded fund (ETF) leaders are narrowly focused commodity sectors like Natural gas (Ticker: UNG) ahead by 53.5 percent, Energy (Ticker: DBE) up by 40.5 percent, and Oil (Ticker: DBO) up by 36.6 percent.

Other strong performers include Latin American stocks (Ticker: GML) advancing by 18.9 percent, Brazilian equities (Ticker: EWZ) jumping 23 percent, and Russia (Ticker: RSX) up by 14.8 percent.

Of the nine industry sectors within the S&P 500, Energy (Ticker: XLE) is up by 8.4 percent and Basic materials (Ticker: XLB) is up by 6.7 percent. Both areas have been leaders.

Broad market REITs (Ticker: VNQ) have been solid performers gaining 7.8 percent, along with theme oriented ETFs focused on Coal (Ticker: KOL) up by 32 percent and Steel (Ticker: SLX) ahead by 27.5 percent.

Weak performing ETF markets so far this year include Chinese stocks (Ticker: GXC) down 13.7 percent, Financials (Ticker: XLF) off by 14.4 percent, and Healthcare stocks (Ticker: XLV) down by 9.2 percent.

Mortgage REITs (Ticker: REM) have been hit by the continuing weakness in the mortgage finance market and have lost 15 percent.

In the bond market, High Yield Bonds (Ticker: JNK) have declined 4.2 percent, whereas TIPS (Ticker: TIP) have edged a slight gain of 0.9 percent.

*All performance figures are year-to-date through market close of May 30th, 2008. Leveraged and inverse performing ETFs not included.