ETF Observation

One of the daily posts I make in my blog shows that day's leading and lagging Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)...I find it interesting not only to keep track of what groups are moving each day, but also how this compares to the longer-term picture.

Yesterday I noted an interesting trend - many of the leading intraday groups were some of the laggard over the last thee months. In other words, yesterday appears to have been a situation where the lagging stocks were bouncing while the leading groups rested. For an example of what I mean, here are what groups lead yesterday from our ETF Center :

• IGN - iShares Goldman Sachs Networking Index Fund
• SMH - HOLDRS Semiconductor
• IGW - iShares Goldman Sachs Semiconductor Index Fund
• IGV - iShares Goldman Sachs Software Index Fund
• QQQQ - Nasdaq 100 Trust Series I
• IYW - iShares Dow Jones Technology Index Fund
• IGM - iShares Goldman Sachs Technology Index Fund

Now, were are the some of the groups showing the negative returns over the last three months:

• HHH - HOLDRS Internet
• IGN - iShares Goldman Sachs Networking Index Fund
• SWH - HOLDRS Software
• IBB - iShares Biotechnology Index Fund
• WMH - HOLDRS Wireless
• BBH - HOLDRS Biotech
• XLK - SPDR Technology
• IGM - iShares Goldman Sachs Technology Index Fund
• IYW - iShares Dow Jones Technology Index Fund
• QQQQ - Nasdaq 100 Trust Series I

I think it will be worthwhile to monitor this situation to see if is a change in asset allocation or merely a pause in the overall trends...