The S&P 500 is down more than five percent since Election Day. Investors are petrified about the consequences of the fiscal cliff. Riskier assets have been shellacked, but some conservative hideouts, namely the telecommunications and utilities sectors, have failed investors as well.
This year's markets leaders such as high-flying tech giants Apple (NASDAQ:
AAPL) and Google (NASDAQ:
GOOG) have also recently been taken to the woodshed. If there is a silver lining, it is that markets have a tendency to overreact to potentially ominous events such as the fiscal cliff. Investors need only remember last year's debt ceiling debate to recall how out of sorts markets can get because of political gridlock.
In other words, the recent pullback in stocks may be a buying opportunity. There are no guarantees about that, but it is clear the following ETFs will be worth trading this week.
Utilities Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLU)
In an environment where low-beta utilities stocks and ETFs should be, at the very least, less bad than the broader market, these names are actually downright dreadful. XLU
has failed investors looking for some shelterMarket Vectors Retail ETF (NYSE: RTH)
With Black Friday looming,
often overlooked RTH will be stepping into the spotlight. One of the year's top-performing retail/discretionary ETFs has fallen on hard times in recent weeks, sliding from $46 to the $43 area.
Exposure to e-commerce names is partly to blame, but three stocks will chart RTH's near-term course: Wal-Mart (NYSE:
WMT), Home Depot (NYSE:
HD) and Amazon (NASDAQ:
AMZN). That trio represents a third of the ETF's weight.
iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction Index Fund (NYSE: ITB)
Few sector funds have been able to keep pace with the iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction Index Fund and the rival SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (NYSE:
XHBhere.
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