April was a difficult month for Wall Street. Many stocks—and some indices—suffered their worst monthly performance since the pandemic first hit in March 2020. Numerous exchange-traded funds (ETFs) also tanked in value as major benchmarks reversed much of the gains.
Meanwhile, mixed corporate earnings could not soften investor worries, thereby failing to renew the bullish mood partly seen in March. Today, we review ETFs that were either clear winners or visible losers in April. Our list offers just a glimpse of numerous funds’ monthly performances and excludes leveraged and inverse ETFs.
Several of these funds could inspire readers to put together long-term diversified portfolios within their risk/return parameters. We've already covered a large number of these ETFs, and we plan to discuss others in the future.
3 ETFs Following The 3 Major US Indices
Before we move on to the best- and worst-performing ETFs, let's take a look at funds that provide exposure to three bellwether Wall Street indices—the Dow Jones, S&P 500, and NASDAQ.
- SPDR® Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (NYSE:DIA), which tracks the Dow Jones Industrial Average: down 6.2% in April.
- SPDR® S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 index: down 10.1%.
- Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ), which tracks the NASDAQ 100 index: down 14.7%.
25 ETF Gainers in April:
United States Natural Gas Fund (NYSE:UNG): up 29.0% in April
Barclays iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN (NYSE:VXZ): up 13.6%
Teucrium Corn Fund (NYSE:CORN): up 13.3%
AGFiQ U.S. Market Neutral Anti-Beta Fund (NYSE:BTAL): up 9.9%
iMGP DBi Managed Futures Strategy ETF (NYSE:DBMF): up 9.3%
Barclays iPath Bloomberg Grains Subindex Total Return ETN (OTC:JJGTF): up 7.9%
Invesco DB Energy Fund (NYSE:DBE): up 7.1%
iShares MSCI Turkey ETF (NASDAQ:TUR): up 6.4%
Barclays iPath Bloomberg Cotton Subindex Total Return ETN (NYSE:BAL): up 5.9%
United States Gasoline Fund, LP (NYSE:UGA): up 5.6%
Invesco DB US Dollar Index Bullish Fund (NYSE:UUP): up 5.3%
Teucrium Agricultural Fund (NYSE:TAGS): up 5.3%
United States Commodity Index Fund, LP (NYSE:USCI): up 4.9%
VanEck Indonesia Index ETF (NYSE:IDX): up 3.8%
iShares US Consumer Staples ETF (NYSE:IYK): up 2.7%
First Trust NASDAQ Food & Beverage ETF (NASDAQ:FTXG): up 2.5%
John Hancock Multifactor Consumer Staples ETF (NYSE:JHMS): up 2.4%
Cambria Value and Momentum ETF (NYSE:VAMO): up 2.4%
AGFiQ Hedged Dividend Income Fund (NYSE:DIVA): up 1.9%
Invesco Dynamic Food & Beverage ETF (NYSE:PBJ): up 1.3%
Aberdeen Standard Physical Palladium Shares ETF (NYSE:PALL): up 1.1%
Invesco DB Oil Fund (NYSE:DBO): up 0.6%
Invesco S&P SmallCap Consumer Staples ETF (NASDAQ:PSCC): up 0.4%
iShares MSCI Qatar ETF (NASDAQ:QAT): up 0.3%
iShares Treasury Floating Rate Bond ETF (NYSE:TFLO): up 0.2%
50 ETF Decliners in April:
ARK Innovation ETF (NYSE:ARKK): down 31.5% in April
ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (NYSE:ARKF): down 30.2%
Amplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF (NYSE:BLOK): down 24.1%
Direxion Moonshot Innovators ETF (NYSE:MOON): down 22.5%
Invesco WilderHill Clean Energy ETF (NYSE:PBW): down 22.2%
Virtus LifeSci Biotech Clinical Trials ETF (NYSE:BBC): down 21.1%
ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF (NYSE:MJ): down 21.9%
ProShares Online Retail ETF (NYSE:ONLN): down 21.1%
Renaissance IPO ETF (NYSE:IPO): down 21.0%
SoFi Gig Economy ETF (NASDAQ:GIGE): down 20.6%
VanEck Rare Earth/Strategic Metals ETF (NYSE:REMX): down 19.2%
KraneShares SSE STAR Market 50 Index ETF (NYSE:KSTR): down 19.1%
VanEck ChiNext ETF (NYSE:CNXT): down 18.8%
Global X FinTech ETF (NASDAQ:FINX): down 18.7%
Simplify Volt Cloud and Cybersecurity Disruption ETF (NYSE:VCLO): down 18.7%
SPDR S&P Semiconductors (NYSE:XSD): down 18.7%
T. Rowe Price Blue Chip Growth ETF (NYSE:TCHP): down 16.7%
SmartETFs Advertising & Marketing Technology ETF (NYSE:MRAD): down 16.6%
Roundhill BITKRAFT Esports & Digital Entertainment ETF (NYSE:NERD): down 15.7%
Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF (NYSE:LIT): down 15.6%
Invesco Solar ETF (NYSE:TAN): down 15.2%
KraneShares Electric Vehicles and Future Mobility Index ETF (NYSE:KARS): down 15.1%
iShares Genomics Immunology and Healthcare ETF (NYSE:IDNA): down 14.7%
SPDR S&P Kensho New Economies Composite ETF (NYSE:KOMP): down 14.4%
Breakwave Dry Bulk Shipping ETF (NYSE:BDRY): down 14.1%
iShares MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF (NYSE:MTUM): down 14.0%
Invesco KBW Bank ETF (NASDAQ:KBWB): down 13.9%
ALPS Disruptive Technologies ETF (NYSE:DTEC): down 13.4%
ETFMG Prime Junior Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:SILJ): down 13.4%
Procure Space ETF (NASDAQ:UFO): down 13.1%
Vanguard Information Technology Index Fund ETF Shares (NYSE:VGT): down 13.1%
Global X Founder-Run Companies ETF (NYSE:BOSS): down 12.9%
Principal Millennials ETF (NASDAQ:GENY): down 12.5%
Goldman Sachs Hedge Industry VIP ETF (NYSE:GVIP): down 12.3%
First Trust NASDAQ Transportation ETF (NASDAQ:FTXR): down 12.2%
First Trust IPOX Europe Equity Opportunities ETF (NASDAQ:FPXE): down 12.1%
iShares Global Consumer Discretionary ETF (NYSE:RXI): down 11.4%
VanEck Mortgage REIT Income ETF (NYSE:MORT): down 11.0%
Vanguard Russell 2000 Index Fund ETF Shares (NASDAQ:VTWO): down 10.9%
First Trust RBA American Industrial RenaissanceTM ETF (NASDAQ:AIRR): down 10.5%
Janus Henderson Small/Mid Cap Growth Alpha ETF (NASDAQ:JSMD): down 10.5%
SoFi Next 500 ETF (NYSE:SFYX): down 9.8%
Nuveen ESG Large-Cap ETF (NYSE:NULC): down 7.7%
Pacer Emerging Markets Cash Cows 100 ETF (NASDAQ:ECOW): down 7.7
iShares International Treasury Bond ETF (NASDAQ:IGOV): down 7.6%
First Trust Global Engineering and Construction ETF (NYSE:FLM): down 7.4%
Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLV): down 5.8%
Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund ETF Shares (NYSE:VNQ):down 5.3%
First Trust Long Duration Opportunities ETF (NYSE:LGOV): down 5.0%
Xtrackers USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (NYSE:HYLB): down 4.9%