Top And Flop ETFs Last Week

Last week was the worst since October 2008 for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite, all of which plunged more than 10% amid the coronavirus panic. The S&P 500 witnessed the fastest correction and the Dow Jones logged its worst single-day slump in history (read: Wall Street in Correction: 4 Sector ETFs Unscathed in February).

The coronavirus outbreak, which first originated in China, has now reached more than 65 nations. Italy saw a 50% jump in new coronavirus cases and 34 deaths. Infection cases in Iran almost doubled. South Korea is another country which is severely impacted.The United States, Australia and Thailand also reported fatalities. The WHO has warned that the coronavirus outbreak had “pandemic potential.”

Global markets lost more than $5 trillion as stocks saw their steepest slump in more than a decade. Overall, the S&P 500-based (ASX:SPY) , the Dow Jones-based (TSXV:DIA) and the Nasdaq 100-based QQQ lost about 11.2%, 12.1% and 10.6% last week.

Against this backdrop, we highlight a few ETFs that gained and lost the most last week.

Best-Performing ETFs

VelocityShares VIX Short-Term ETN VIIX – Up 54%

With such severe panic gripping Wall Street, volatility in the market is sure to rise. Almost all volatility ETFs/ETNs gained massively last week.

AdvisorShares Dorsey Wright Short ETF DWSH – Up 14.1%

The fund is actively-managed with an investment focus that involves buying securities that have appreciated in price more than the other securities in the investment universe and holding those securities until they underperform (read: How to Short the S&P 500 With ETFs).

Cambria Tail Risk ETF TAIL – Up 8.8%

This ETF is active and does not track a benchmark. The fund looks to mitigate significant downside market risk. The product intends to invest in a portfolio of out of the money put options purchased on the U.S. stock market (read: Wall Street Crashes: 5 Defensive ETFs to Your Rescue).

PIMCO 25+ Year Zero Coupon U.S. Treasury Index Exchange-Traded Fund ZROZ – Up 6.9%

Such fear factors initiated a safe-haven rally, dragging down the benchmark U.S. treasury yield to a record low of 1.13% on Feb 28. This, in turn, boosted demand for U.S. treasury bond ETFs (read: Treasury ETFs Hit New Highs as Coronavirus Fears Spread).

Worst-Performing ETFs

Barclays (LON:BARC) Inverse US Treasury Aggregate ETN TAPR – Down 25.4%

As treasury bonds gained, inverse ETN slumped massively. The underlying Barclays Inverse US Treasury Futures Composite Index employs a strategy that tracks the sum of the returns of periodically rebalanced short positions in equal face values of each of the 2-year, 5-year, 10-year, long-bond and ultra-long U.S. Treasury futures contracts (read: ETFs That Gained as Yield Curve Steepens in September).

ETFMG Prime Junior Silver Miners ETF SILJ — Down 24.5%

The underlying Prime Junior Silver Miners & Explorers Index provides a benchmark for investors interested in tracking public, small-cap companies that are active in the silver mining exploration and production industry.

Silver is an industrial metal. With the coronavirus outbreak taking a toll on supply chains and global industrial activities, the silver mining industry is likely to suffer.

U.S. Global Jets ETF (KL:JETS) — Down 21.5%

The global airlines industry has of late been drawing attention, because of the outbreak. Several global carriers suspended flights to China. Travel restrictions have also been expanding beyond China (read: Earnings or Coronavirus: What Will Impact Airlines ETF Ahead?).

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) predicted that the airlines industry would result in a $27.8 billion revenue loss for Asia-Pacific carriers in 2020. IATA analysis shows that carriers outside Asia-Pacific would shed $1.5 billion in revenues if the decline in demand is limited to markets linked to China. With travel restrictions spreading slowly to the global level, the revenue loss is likely to be wider than the IATA prediction.

InfraCap MLP ETF AMZA – Down 18.9%

Heightened global growth worries weighed on the energy sector. United States Oil Fund (NYSE:USO) LP USO lost about 16.1% last week. As a result, this energy MLP fund lost heavily last week.

Want key ETF info delivered straight to your inbox?

Zacks’ free Fund Newsletter will brief you on top news and analysis, as well as top-performing ETFs, each week. Get it free >>