Dow Jones, Germany And Oil ETFs To Watch This Week

The markets struggled last week through a myriad of tepid earnings from the financial sector along with a surprise announcement from the Swiss National Bank regarding currency policy.

Despite a strong showing on Friday, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF SPY finished the week more than 1 percent lower as investors jostle for positioning in 2015.

The week ahead features a holiday-shortened schedule with housing data highlighting the calendar of economic releases.

Here are the key ETFs to watch for the week of January 19:

Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF DIA

Two key Dow Jones Industrial Average companies are set to report earnings on Tuesday, with Johnson & Johnson and International Business Machines Corp. These blue-chip stocks have the potential to significantly impact DIA, which tracks this historic bellwether index.

DIA is sitting in negative territory for 2015, but has the potential to reverse those fortunes with a strong showing during earnings season from some of these key holdings. This ETF is a unique price-weighted index, rather than market cap or fundamentally oriented mix.

iShares MSCI Germany ETF EWG

This Thursday, the European Central Bank is set to meet and it's speculated they will reveal plans for a whole-hearted implementation of quantitative easing efforts similar to efforts by Japan the the United States. This could be a potential bullish catalyst for EWG, which tracks 59 large and mid-cap stocks in Germany.

EWG has over $4.4 billion in total assets and charges an expense ratio of 0.49 percent to focus on one of the largest economies in Europe. This ETF recently broke out above its 50-day moving average and may be ready to recapture a new uptrend if this momentum continues.

United States Oil Fund LP USO

Recent strength in the price of crude oil is certainly worth noting as this heavily watched commodity attempts to arrest its steep slide. USO tracks the daily price fluctuations of West Texas Intermediate Light Sweet Crude Oil and rose more than 5 percent on Friday.

An extension of this rally may lead to a short-covering binge by traders looking to close out bearish positions in the oil space. Stocks have also been keying in on the price of oil as well, which makes this an important indicator for the global economy at this juncture.