The ECB and IMF are coming to the rescue of Greece, but not before Eurozone stocks have suffered significant declines related to the debt crisis. The SPDR Euro STOXX 50 ETF (FEZ) is down over 20% since the beginning of April as Greece’s debt crisis has played out and the Euro reached its lowest levels against the dollar in 14 months.
Chalk one up for Washington this week in the running battle with Wall Street. The SEC recently filed civil securities-fraud charges against Goldman Sachs (GS) and a trader in its mortgage group.
Natural gas futures continued to decline last week after a government report showed a smaller than expected withdrawal from inventories. The United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG), an exchange traded security designed to reflect the changes in percentage terms of the price of natural gas, is down nearly 30% in 2010 and down nearly 60% from year ago levels.
Investors are pushing consumer discretionary stocks higher despite questions about the outlook for consumer spending. The Vanguard Consumer Discretionary ETF (VCR) is up nearly 14% on the latest leg of the rally which began on February 9.
As Europe struggles with a debt crisis and spending cuts, the Euro has declined 10% against the dollar since December. However, the run may be over, at least temporarily, and a short squeeze could be the result.
European equities are seeing some signs of life after strong downward pressure on the Euro related to the debt crisis in Greece caused stocks to slide. The Vanguard European ETF (VGK) closed at $43.37 on February 8, declining nearly 15% from the mid-January high before recovering some ground in the past 10 days
Toyota Motor (TM) has taken a nose dive amid a massive recall leading Japan related ETFs lower. Toyota has recalled 2.3 million vehicles in the U.S. to fix a gas pedal problem.
After a strong start in 2010, Materials ETFs lead last week’s market retreat. The Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLB) fell nearly 8% in last week’s sell-off that saw the broader market decline nearly 5% in three days.
After a strong finish in 2009, semiconductor stocks have pulled back in the first couple of trading weeks of the new year. The iShares S&P North American Technology-Semiconductors Index Fund (IGW) is down nearly 5% since the beginning of 2010 compared to a plus 2% performance for the broader market.
Steel stocks, on a steady upward trend since the March 2009 lows, have recently outpaced the broader market. The Market Vectors Steel ETF (SLX) is up 34% since early November compared to a 10% gain for the broader market.