• Rate this Story
  • 0
  • 0

By ETF Professor | September 10, 2012 10:09 PM EST

Equities soared into the end of the week on comments made by European Central Bank's President. Mario Draghi said that the ECB could buy European sovereign bonds to help ameliorate Eurozone debt crisis. Surprisingly, Friday's poor U.S. jobs report did not damage Thursday's gains.

The Labor Department said employers added 96,000 new jobs in August. The June number was revised lower to 45,000 from 64,000 new jobs and the July number was pared down to 141,000 from 163,000. The unemployment rate slid to 8.1 percent from 8.3 percent. Highlighting the notion that there is some form of disconnect in this market, stocks were able to muster a positive finish on Friday and the S&P 500 finished with a weekly gain of 2.2 percent.

All the more impressive about that gain is that it accrued in a four-day week and that September is historically a bad month for equities. There is still time left in the month for the bears to have their say and now is the time to look at some of the most important ETFs for this week:

PowerShares QQQ (NASDAQ: QQQ)Perhaps the most obvious for a list regarding ETFs that will be in focus over the coming days. Next week brings the debut of the new iPhone and the potential for more follow through on the Kindle Fire trade. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) combine for over 23 percent of QQQ's weight. Then there is Google (NASDAQ: GOOG). The Internet search giant traversed the $700 mark on Friday and that stock represents 5.65 percent of QQQ's weight.

Direxion Daily Semicondct Bear 3X Shares (NYSE: SOXS)Talk about disconnect. It is apparent that tech's sexier names, Apple, Google, etc. want to run higher. True to form, semiconductor names look poised for a bad September. Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) affirmed as much on Friday when the company pared its third-quarter revenue outlook. SOXS incurred significant damage on Thursday, but that selling was arguably overdone. After all, the ECB can buy all the bonds it wants. That does not mean demand for personal computers will suddenly surge.

EGShares China Infrastructure ETF (NYSE: CHXX)In late August, some intrepid minds noted CHXX would rally on news of a Chinese stimulus plan. That happened on Friday as the world's second-largest economy predictably turned to domestic infrastructure projects as a way of boosting a sagging economy.

CHXX gained almost four percent in what was the ETF's best one-day performance in months. Traders should exercise caution here because CHXX made that move on light volume. If ever there was a day for this ETF to see above average trade, Friday was it. Alas, that did not happen.

iShares Silver Trust (NYSE: SLV)The largest ETF backed by physical silver has surged almost 20 percent in the past month, perhaps indicating silver is again becoming a freight train not to be messed with. Or perhaps the white metal is poised for another breathtaking slide.

The latter scenario does not seem to be the one that will win out in the near-term. On Friday, SLV closed at its highest levels since March. Not to be outdone are the miners of gold and silver, which have perked up in a big way in the past month. Over that time, the Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE: SIL) is up more than 20 percent.

For more on ETFs, click here.


This article was originally published on Benzinga, and is republished here with permission.

More ETF Stories

Must-Know ETFs For The iPhone 5 Launch

Even Hedge Fund Legends Make ETF Mistakes

Natural Gas Spikes Higher

  • Rate this Story
  • 0
  • 0
Copyright Benzinga. All rights reserved.

Join the Conversation

IBTimes TV

E-Newsletters

We value your privacy. Your email address will not be shared.