A sharp reversal in the final two
hours of trading helped the Nasdaq overcome a 3.8% deficit to finish the day up
1.4%. Among ETFs, the big winners of the day were some of the casualties of
February.
Leading the charge in tech Thursday
were the semiconductors HOLDRs
(
SMH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 2.75 to 44.60. As the chart below
shows, the semis were hit particularly hard during the month of February.
Also showing a nice
bounce were the Internet Infrastructure HOLDRS
(
IIH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), which gained 1.03 to
14.40.
Among HOLDRs giving back some of
their recent gains were the Health Care HOLDRs
(
IYH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), which fell .80 to
64.45.
Exchange-traded
funds combine traits
of stocks and mutual funds. Like mutual funds, an ETF represents diversified
ownership in a number of different stocks, greatly reducing company-specific
risk. Like stocks, ETFs trade on exchanges, nearly all of them in fact trade on
the American Stock Exchange at present. They quote throughout the day, enabling
traders to take advantage of intraday price moves.
If you're new exchange-traded funds,
be sure to visit TradingMarkets' Knowledge Center,
dedicated to explaining the basics of trading and active investing in ETFs and
mutual funds. Just click on the Funds tab
near the top of this page, then click on the Knowledge
Center tab.
You also will find lessons on trading
exchange-traded funds in the Stocks Education area of TradingMarkets.com. In
particular, check out my three-part series on trading ETFs, starting with
Average Crossovers. I also recommend newcomers read my tutorial,
HOLDRs: Unique Opportunity And Risk.
