ETF Performance Highlights

Article Excerpt

October 2018 was a month that investors in risky assets would rather forget. Some of the top-performing ETFs over the preceding months lost considerable value in October. For example, the Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF (HMMJ) dropped 30%, although it remains up 76% over a year earlier. We highlighted HMMJ in our June 2018 issue, but investors should continue to exercise extreme caution with investments in the highly volatile cannabis industry. Other notable losers during the month were SPDR SER Trust (XWEB, down 18%), SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB, down 16%), SPDR S&P China ETF (GXC, down 15%). U.S. momentum-stock ETFs iShares Edge MSCI ETF (MTUM, down 13%) and U.S. growth ETF Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG, down 12%) also lost significant ground. On the other hand, expectations that Brazil’s new president will clamp down on corruption and criminal activities fuelled the country’s markets and the iShares MSCI Brazil ETF (EWZ, up 15%). Higher natural gas prices lifted the U.S. Natural Gas Fund (UNG, up 4.4%), while rising gold prices added some life to the SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD, up 3.1%). Investors who…