ETF Performance Highlights

Article Excerpt

The runaway ETF winners in the month of September 2018 were marijuana funds ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF (MJ) and Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF (HMMJ). They gained 23.1% and 20.4%, respectively. The increases for these spectaculative stocks came on top of previous gains. Both funds are up more than 40% over the past 6 months. We highlighted HMMJ in our June 2018 issue, but investors should exercise caution in this highly volatile industry. The iShares MSCI Turkey ETF (TUR) bounced back with an 11.9% gain for the month as investors responded to the Turkish central bank raising interest rates dramatically to stabilize the currency. Nevertheless, this ETF is still down by 43.0% over the past 12 months. Rising oil prices resulted in solid gains for oil and gas ETFs, including the U.S. Brent Oil Fund (BNO; up 9.4%) and the U.S. Natural Gas Fund (UNG; up 6.3%). Real estate was on the losing side for the month with the Fidelity MSCI Real Estate ETF (FREL; down 5.0%) and iShares Global REIT ETF (REET; down 4.6%) dropping…