There is no doubting the strength in the Gold markets since the beginning of the year. Oil has also tried to perk up recently, but this week they both are struggling.Gold ETF's pulled back to start the week. Most notably the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD ), which has been on a tear, is down almost 3% this week. Many investors wont mind a small pullback since it did just have a 20% run. In the gold miners space the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX ) has also slumped into the red. Again, when an ETF has a 40% run almost straight up, investors are usually pretty forgiving of a small pullback.
While still positive on the week there was some notable selling Monday in the oil markets. Oil gave back 4% and has yet to fully recover. United States Oil Fund (USO ) is the ETF that tracks oil and has seen the same weakness. Oil is down 12% for the year but traders continue to talk about the recent strength in hopes of a bounce.
Oil service stocks have seen rally's that out performed oil recently, but are not immune to this weeks pullback. Oil Service ETF (OIH ) had almost a 7% rally to start the week but has since given all of it back. We should note that at its high the Oil service ETF's were almost even for the year showing that the sector is bullish on oil prices.
In other sectors it seems that Home builders and Retail are taking a break after impressive rally's. Home building ETF (XHB ) has seen over a 10% rally this month but recently flat lined near its highs. Retail ETF (XRT ) has seen a temporary pause to its impressive rally that began in February but sellers aren't ready yet. The rally has stopped perfectly at the 200 day moving average but selling has been light as investors are hesitant to take their profits on this strong sector.