Best And Worst ETFs Of The Week Amid New Commodity Lows

The stock market hit new all-time highs this past week, driven by supportive economic data and seasonal strength that has extended the recent rally into the first days of November.

However, the same can’t be said for commodities, which fell to their lowest levels of 2014 amid a strengthening U.S. dollar index. The PowerShares DB Com Indx Trckng Fund(ETF) DBC tracks a broad basket of commodity futures contracts and is now down more than 14 percent on the year.

The following ETFs represent a sample of the best- and worst-performing funds over last week.

BEST: Natural Gas Prices

After experiencing multiple months of turbulence, natural gas prices have now regained some upward momentum. The United States Natural Gas Fund, LP UNG gained 15 percent last week as the cold weather months that are typically supportive of heating prices approach.

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UNG holds a basket of near month natural gas futures contracts traded on the NYMEX exchange and has total assets of over $700 million. While still in negative territory on the year, UNG has risen steeply from an oversold state and may look to build on those gains through the remainder of the 2014.

The First Trust ISE Revere Natural Gas (ETF) FCG, which tracks a basket of natural gas-related stocks, also traded modestly higher on the week.

WORST: Nigeria Stocks

The Nigeria stock market entered bear market territory last week as tumbling oil prices threatened the economic stability of Africa’s largest oil-generating country. This significantly impacted the Global X MSCI Nigeria ETF NGE, which fell over 12 percent.

Related Link: Oil & Gas Stock Roundup: Chevron Strikes Oil In GoM, Shell Offloads Nigeria Assets

NGE tracks 30 stocks that are principally domiciled or whose revenues are primarily generated from Nigeria. NGE is the only exchange-traded fund that is focused exclusively on Nigerian stocks and charges an expense ratio of 0.68 percent

The plunging currency of this nation is likely taking a toll on the 43 percent financial sector exposure that dominates the asset allocation of NGE. The unrest in this country may continue as the Central Bank of Nigeria is pressured to stem the bleeding of stocks and a presidential election looms in February.