Solar energy ETFs rose sharply in the past week, after President Obama used part of his State of the Union address on Tuesday to call for heightened clean energy development and use.
Both the Guggenheim Solar ETF (TAN) and the Market Vectors Solar Energy ETF (KWT) shot up over 10 percent—10.75 and 10.21 percent, respectively—landing them in the Nos. 1 and 2 spots on IndexUniverse’s top-performers’ list.
The PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy (PBW) and the First Trust Nasdaq Clean Edge Green Energy (QCLN) also landed on the top 10 list, climbing 4.66 and 4.59 percent, respectively.
The solid performance in the green energy ETF market came during a week the S'P 500 Index rose a bit less than 1 percent. The index is near five-year highs on widening views—based on largely encouraging economic data—that the U.S. economy is slowly normalizing after the 2008 collapse.
While performance of clean energy funds generally tracks developments in crude markets, the fact that they rose despite a decline in crude prices suggests the market was responding to the Obama speech. It’s not clear that anything tangible will come from the president’s call, but it’s entirely possible. Brent crude oil prices fell 1.73 percent, while West Texas Intermediate crude eased 0.26 percent.
Another notable trend of the week was a bearish sentiment toward gold, as the Global X Explorers (GLDX) shrank 5.48 percent and the Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners (GDXJ) decreased 4.25 percent as prices fell to six-month lows.
Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and '1,000 Shares Traded
| Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
| GRN | iPath Global Carbon ETN | 27.04% | 7,147 | 0.79 |
| TAN | Guggenheim Solar | 10.75% | 1,167,071 | 74.50 |
| KWT | Market Vectors Solar Energy | 10.12% | 56,494 | 13.81 |
| XSD | SPDR S'P Semiconductor | 4.69% | 831,989 | 70.60 |
| PBW | PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy | 4.66% | 2,971,772 | 144.10 |
| PXJ | PowerShares Dynamic Oil ' Gas Services | 4.66% | 767,650 | 138.54 |
| QCLN | First Trust Nasdaq Clean Edge Green Energy | 4.59% | 24,560 | 16.28 |
| IEZ | iShares Dow Jones U.S. Oil Equipment ' Services | 4.29% | 677,236 | 393.39 |
| XES | SPDR S'P Oil ' Gas Equipment ' Services | 4.26% | 520,677 | 339.08 |
| KOL | Market Vectors Coal | 4.22% | 777,979 | 256.14 |
Bottom 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and '1,000 Shares Traded
| Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
| VXX | iPath S'P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN | -5.48% | 152,713,395 | 1,100.57 |
| VIIX | VelocityShares VIX Short Term ETN | -5.48% | 2,454,847 | 12.29 |
| GLDX | Global X Gold Explorers | -5.48% | 808,120 | 37.45 |
| VIXY | ProShares VIX Short-Term | -5.46% | 6,323,902 | 163.39 |
| SCIN | EGShares India Small Cap | -5.20% | 36,292 | 23.55 |
| INXX | EGShares India Infrastructure | -5.05% | 38,415 | 56.53 |
| SCIF | Market Vectors India Small-Cap | -4.95% | 913,093 | 110.99 |
| GAZ | iPath Dow Jones-UBS Natural Gas Total Return ETN | -4.59% | 492,887 | 32.96 |
| SMIN | iShares MSCI India Small Cap | -4.46% | 4,699 | 4.79 |
| GDXJ | Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners | -4.25% | 14,612,855 | 2,405.27 |
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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