The markets start the week somewhat quiet as many big names will be reporting earnings. During earnings season it is common to see one or two stocks report earnings, and for the related ETF's to have significant, one day moves. This can make short term trading of sector ETF's difficult. Because of this the popular market ETF's such as SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY), and PoweShares Nasdaq ETF (NASDAQ: QQQ) have started the week with sloppy, back and forth movement. The hot topic in ETF land is still Oil and Oil ETF's. US Oil Fund ETF (NYSE: USO) saw severe weakness on Monday but gained almost all of it back by Tuesday. This sort of ping pong action has continued to push the commodity to the front of the news cycle. Oil exploration ETF (NYSE: XOP) seems to be doing the best as it popped over 6% on Tuesday and shows the most strength in the short term.
Retail has come into focus thanks to a few names that have reported stronger sales over the holiday season as well as Q4 2015. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF (NYSE: XRT) has started the week with a bang as Coach (NYSE: COH) reported some better than expected earnings and sales. XRT popped 2.355 Tuesday on the near 10% pop in Coach as well as strength in Macy's (NYSE; M) which popped over 2%.
Not making the headlines, but sneaking in a rally is Gold. The SPDR Gold Shares ETF (NYSE: GLD) has popped to new yearly highs after a consistent, multi-day rally. The GLD is up almost 2% this week with most of the gains coming from Tuesday's rally. Not quite as strong but still tagging along with Gold is Silver. iShares Silver Trust (NYSE: SLV) which also has had an impressive rally this week surged 1.77% on Tuesday and now finds itself at technical resistance.
Expect that many of the popular ETF's will see continued volatility as we make our way through earnings season. Many short term traders may not want to react to every move in their respective products, but wait it out for earnings season to settle down.