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Best and Worst ETFs of November

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A consensus carried out from 1950 to 2017 has revealed that November has ended up offering positive returns in 51 years and negative returns in 17, with the average return being positive 1.39%, per moneychimp.com.

November has come second in terms of monthly returns over the past two decades. However, this year, the market looked more like the down-years in the mid-month due to a host of concerns, with rising rate worries being at the helm. Global growth has been in jeopardy, trade tensions at a critical juncture and oil fell fast.

Among the top ETFs, investors saw U.S. ETFs advance moderately with both SPY and DIA gaining 2.3% and 2.0%, respectively, and QQQ moving up about 1.3% in the past month (as of Nov 29, 2018). Let’s take a look at the three best and worst performing ETFs of the past month (as of Nov 29, 2018) (read: Best Leveraged/Inverse ETFs of November).

Top ETFs

United States Natural Gas (UNG - Free Report) ) – Up 43.1%

Like in most winters, natural gas prices started receiving warmth from the chills this year. The cold snap boosts electricity demand across the region, putting focus on natural gas. There was forecast of inclement weather and above-average gas demand from Nov 9 through Nov 18. This boosted natural gas ETFs in mid-November (read: Natural Gas ETFs to Heat Up on Winter Chills?).

Invesco Solar ETF (TAN - Free Report) ) – Up 22.0%

A few decent earnings releases and Democrat’s capture of the House of Representatives in the midterms led to the rally in this alternative energy ETF. The split government may limit Trump’s power in enacting Republican-friendly policies. Trump has kept the alternative energy space under pressure, giving downtrodden coal a major boost while Democrats are known for supporting renewable energy (read: Is a Split Congress Good for the Market? ETFs in Focus).

Loncar China BioPharma ETF ) – Up 15.8%

The underlying Loncar China BioPharma Index seeks to track the performance of a modified equal-weighted portfolio of companies directly involved in the growth of pharmaceutical and biotech related industries from China.

The Chinese biopharmaceutical and healthcare industries are thriving with opportunities right now. China is a big market with about $1.26 billion population, which has always been a point of interest for both Chinese and Western providers of drugs(read: Explore China's Booming Biopharma Space With This New ETF).

Flop ETFs

United States Oil (USO - Free Report) ) – Down 22.9%

Concerns about rising output amid softer-than-expected U.S. sanctions on Iran and falling demand from global growth worries weighed on oil prices.So, the fund took a dive along with several other oil ETFs.The underlying index of USO looks to reflect the daily changes of the spot price of light, sweet crude oil delivered to Cushing, Oklahoma.

Franklin FTSE Mexico ETF(FLMX - Free Report) – Down 6.3%

President Donald Trump and the leaders of Mexico and Canada will sign a revised NAFTA trade pact at the end of November, but the final confirmation is still dicey.  Meanwhile, a new Mexican president is facing anti-corruption uproar. Mexico's central bank slashed its economic growth forecast for 2019 this week on uncertainty over the policies that leftist President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will follow.

iShares S&P GSCI Commodity-Indexed Trust (GSG - Free Report)  – Down 12.2%

The S&P GSCI Total Return Index provides exposure to broad-based commodities. The product has about 60.5% weight in energy followed by agriculture (17.1%), Industrial Metals (10.6%) and Livestock (7.5%). Since energy sector performed badly in the month, GSG took a hit. Also, other commodities took a slight beating due to a steady greenback.

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