The first half of the year has meant different fortunes for shares of companies across sectors. Today, we review ETFs that were clear winners or losers in the first two quarters of 2021. We provide their returns over the past six months, as well as their most recent returns for the month of June.
Major Indices
Main indices have returned double-digit gains so far this year. Three names top the list:
SPDR® Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (NYSE:DIA), which tracks the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It is up 12.2% year-to-date, but down 1.6% in June (covered here).
SPDR® S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 Index. It is up 14.3% YTD and up 1.5% in June (covered here).
Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ), which tracks the NASDAQ 100 Index. It is up 12.9% YTD and up 6.3% in June (covered here).
Despite increasing concerns over inflationary pressures, investors have not been shy to put money into broader markets in the first half of the year. As a result, all three indices have seen record highs in recent weeks.
Let’s take a look at which ETFs provided profitable exposure in the first six months of 2021.
Winners
Here’re are 30 ETFs that have done well so far in the year:
First Trust Natural Gas ETF (NYSE:FCG): up 83.2% YTD and up 12.1% in June;
KraneShares Global Carbon ETF (NYSE:KRBN): up 48.8% YTD and up 5.8% in June;
Loncar China BioPharma ETF (NASDAQ:CHNA): up 45.6% YTD and up 6.1% in June;
Vanguard Energy Index Fund ETF Shares (NYSE:VDE): up 44.1% YTD and up 3.9% in June (covered here);
Invesco S&P 500® Equal Weight ETF (NYSE:RYE): up 43.6% YTD and up 4.1% in June
Global X Uranium ETF (NYSE:URA): up 37.1% YTD but down 3.6% in June (covered here);
Amplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF (NYSE:BLOK): up 34.8% YTD and up 3.1% in June (covered here);
iShares S&P GSCI Commodity-Indexed Trust (NYSE:GSG): up 30.1% YTD and up 2.9% in June;
SPDR® S&P Metals and Mining ETF (NYSE:XME): up 26.9% YTD but down 8.9% in June;
The Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLRE): up 23.7% YTD and up 3.2% in June (covered here);
Global X U.S. Infrastructure Development ETF (NYSE:PAVE): up 21.1% YTD but down 3.2% in June (covered here);
iShares MSCI Canada ETF (NYSE:EWC): up 20.2% YTD but down 1.4% in June (covered here);
United States Copper Index Fund (NYSE:CPER): up 19.3% YTD but down 8.7% in June (covered here);
VanEck Vectors Oil Refiners ETF (NYSE:CRAK): up 18.2% YTD but down 1.1% in June (covered here);
Invesco S&P SmallCap Financials ETF (NASDAQ:PSCF): up 18.1% YTD but down 2.7% in June (covered here);
VanEck Vectors Agribusiness ETF (NYSE:MOO): up 17.5% YTD but down 1.9% in June (covered here);
iShares MSCI USA Size Factor ETF (NYSE:SIZE): up 17.1% YTD and up 1.4% in June (covered here);
Vanguard Russell 2000 Index Fund ETF Shares (NASDAQ:VTWO): up 16.7% YTD and up 1.5% in June;
Invesco DB Base Metals Fund (NYSE:DBB): up 16.1% YTD but down 4.9% in June (covered here);
iShares S&P 500 Value ETF (NYSE:IVE): up 15.7% YTD but down 1.9% in June (covered here);
Schwab U.S. Large-Cap Growth ETF™ (NYSE:SCHG): up 14.1% YTD and up 6.6% in June (covered here);
SPDR® S&P Semiconductor ETF (NYSE:XSD): up 13.3% YTD and up 7.3% in June (covered here);
Fidelity® MSCI Consumer Discretionary Index ETF (NYSE:FDIS): up 13.1% YTD and up 2.8% in June (covered here);
WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund (NYSE:DXJ): up 12.9% YTD but down 0.8% in June (covered here);
Invesco NASDAQ Next Gen 100 ETF (NASDAQ:QQQJ): up 12.5% YTD and up 5.1% in June (covered here);
WisdomTree Growth Leaders Fund (NYSE:PLAT): up 11.7% YTD and up 7.6% in June;
iShares MSCI India ETF (NYSE:INDA): up 10.3% YTD but down 0.2% in June (covered here);
ARK Israel Innovative Technology ETF (NYSE:IZRL): up 9.3% YTD and up 3.1% in June (covered here);
JPMorgan BetaBuilders Developed Asia ex-Japan (NYSE:BBAX): up 8.4% YTD but down 3.2% in June;
iShares Latin America 40 ETF (NYSE:ILF): up 7.7% YTD and up 2.7% in June (covered here).
Losers
We have chosen 11 ETFs that have not done well so far in the year:
iShares MSCI Peru ETF (NYSE:EPU): down 19.4% YTD and down 11.9% in June;
iShares Global Clean Energy ETF (NASDAQ:ICLN): down 17.2% YTD but up 1.9% in June (covered here);
iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF (NYSE:EWM): down 10.9% YTD and down 6.7% in June;
Defiance Next Gen SPAC Derived ETF (NYSE:SPAK): down 9.4% YTD but up 5.2% in June (covered here);
ProShares Long Online/Short Stores ETF (NYSE:CLIX): down 9.1% YTD but up 6.4% in June (covered here);
KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF (NYSE:KWEB): down 8.5% YTD but up 0.4% in June (covered here);
First Trust Global Wind Energy ETF (NYSE:FAN): down 7.7% YTD and down 1.5% in June;
iPath® Bloomberg Cocoa Subindex Total Return(SM) ETN (NYSE:NIB): down 7.6% YTD and down 3.5% in June;
ALPS Medical Breakthroughs ETF (NYSE:SBIO): down 6.4% YTD but up 3.2% in June (covered here);
Alpha Architect U.S. Quantitative Momentum ETF (NYSE:QMOM): down 3.2% YTD but up 1.4% in June;
ARK Genomic Revolution ETF (NYSE:ARKG): down 1.1% YTD but up 13.2% in June (covered here).