A mix of funds were top performers in the week ending Thursday, April 25, as gold prices recovered from a recent sell-off, while energy funds outperformed as well. Meanwhile, the week’s underperformers were volatility-focused ETNs and natural gas funds.
The S'P 500 rallied 43.55 points, or 2.82 percent, ending that same five-day period at 1585.16.
After the previous week’s declines in gold bullion prices, the week ended April 25 saw a rebound that boosted the net asset value of gold-related exchange-traded funds. The Global X Pure Gold Miners fund (GGGG) saw the largest gain, ramping up NAV by 12.42 percent.
Solar energy funds, like the Guggenheim Solar ETF (TAN), also outperformed their peers by as much as 15.67 percent.
Natural gas exchange-traded products suffered losses, the most notable of which being the iPath Dow Jones-UBS Natural Gas Total Return ETN (GAZ), which dropped 6.45 percent as natgas rebounded from a temporary, seasonal spike in performance.
GAZ is closed to creations, distorting its movements, so the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) is the better indicator of movements in gas futures. UNG had a decline of 5.25 percent in the five-day trading period.
Volatility-focused ETNs meanwhile fell as markets rallied.
Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and '1,000 Shares Traded
| Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
| TAN | Guggenheim Solar | 15.67% | 1,123,477 | 67.07 |
| GGGG | Global X PURE Gold Miners | 12.42% | 68,157 | 3.10 |
| KWT | Market Vectors Solar Energy | 12.34% | 14,896 | 12.53 |
| GLDX | Global X Gold Explorers | 11.08% | 897,863 | 29.89 |
| ITB | iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction | 10.75% | 27,453,578 | 2,295.53 |
| PBW | PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy | 10.64% | 1,484,541 | 138.23 |
| GDXJ | Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners | 10.56% | 25,285,249 | 1,740.21 |
| SIL | Global X Silver Miners | 10.41% | 1,092,118 | 229.83 |
| QCLN | First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy | 9.48% | 287,760 | 31.73 |
| AZIA | Global X Central Asia ' Mongolia | 9.23% | 3,932 | 2.20 |
Bottom 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and '1,000 Shares Traded
| Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
| VXX | iPath S'P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN | -13.85% | 258,759,190 | 1,206.11 |
| VIIX | VelocityShares VIX Short Term ETN | -13.85% | 3,584,663 | 20.59 |
| VIXY | ProShares VIX Short-Term | -13.81% | 10,970,553 | 190.60 |
| GAZ | iPath Dow Jones-UBS Natural Gas Total Return ETN | -6.45% | 814,068 | 43.69 |
| VXZ | iPath S'P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN | -6.18% | 2,875,030 | 52.43 |
| VIXM | ProShares VIX Mid-term | -6.18% | 288,862 | 58.09 |
| VIIZ | VelocityShares VIX Mid Term ETN | -6.18% | 9,600 | 3.66 |
| UNG | United States Natural Gas | -5.25% | 27,607,912 | 889.16 |
| DCNG | iPath Pure Beta Seasonal Natural Gas ETN | -4.21% | 38,210 | 42.12 |
| UNL | United States 12 Month Natural Gas | -3.94% | 94,207 | 37.83 |
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.
Permalink | ' Copyright 2013 IndexUniverse LLC. All rights reserved