The markets have started the week on the positive side. Market ETFs continue their multi-week rally with help from retail and financials. The S&P 500 ETF (NYSE: SPY) is up almost 2% for the week so far, getting ever so close to even on the year after being down over 10%. The Nasdaq 100 ETF (NASDAQ: QQQ) has fared slightly better, gaining 2.38% so far this week but still shows a 4.68% loss on the year. One of the most impressive sectors has been retail. The S&P Retail ETF (NYSE: XRT) is up over 16% this month, and has added 2% of that so far this week. Technical investors are chatting about resistance up at $47 but for the moment everyone seems confident that the XRT will trade above the 200 day moving average convincingly. The Retail ETF has been up over 4 weeks in a row now.
While it's not as strong, the Financial ETF (NYSE: XLF) has still posted a nice 2.28% gain on the week. You may remember how hard they sold off as the year started, pushing them (and the market) into correction territory. Since then they have bounced almost 10% giving the bulls a chance to get excited again. Resistance is seen just over the $23 number.
Our last update highlighted the significant rally in gold and gold mining stocks. Well, this week they have taken a break as SPDR Gold Shares ETF (NYSE: GLD) has pulled back over 2%. Investors seem to be taking the big picture in mind though. Up over 16% for the year, the bulls can forgive a little pull back. The Gold Mining ETF (NYSE: GDX) has managed to hold near the highs and is actually up just over 0.50% for the week.
Lastly we will take a look at oil. The US Oil Fund ETF (NYSE: USO) has been pretty quiet this week as oil has bounced back and forth . The USO posts a 0.52% gain on the week so far but a betting man would bet that this will likely change before the week is over.