Here's The Best And Worst ETFs Of The Week Amid Holiday Melt Up

The holiday-shortened week was met with low volume and persistent strength across the broad market indices that resembled a slow “melt up” in equity prices. Santa Claus seemed to have a steadying effect on stocks, which are now heading into the final trading days of the year at all-time highs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is firmly ensconced above the 18,000 level and will likely boost investors’ confidence nearing the start of 2015.

The following ETFs represent a sample of the best- and worst-performing funds over the last five trading sessions.

BEST: Nigerian Stocks

The country of Nigeria has seen its stock prices plummet as crude oil prices have slid precipitously this year. The Global X MSCI Nigeria ETF NGE is down 32 percent in 2014 as this energy-centric economy continues to flounder. NGE tracks 30 stocks domiciled in or having a significant portion of their business in this small African nation.

Related Link: The Best Bond ETF Of 2014

While the larger trend has been lower for NGE over several months, this week it managed to jump 12 percent higher as emerging and frontier markets gained strength. It's too early to tell whether this rally will spark a new surge higher in NGE, but the relief from selling is a positive sign.

WORST: Natural Gas Prices

Natural gas has been on a repeat cycle of new lows each week that has highlighted this commodity as one of our worst performers in December. The United States Natural Gas Fund UNG plunged more than 13 percent this week as warmer-than-expected weather and a build in supplies has hampered prices.

UNG tracks the daily spot price of natural gas traded on the NYMEX exchange. This ETF has now fallen to three-year lows and continues to indicate sellers are taking advantage of unusual weather patterns and low demand.

Deflation in energy prices has been an overwhelming theme for the second half of 2014 and will be closely watched moving into the New Year.