Daily ETF Roundup: VXX Sinks, DBA Soars
Friday, November 19th, 2010ETF Database submits:
U.S. equity markets surged in Thursday trading as investors cheered the successful IPO of GM and progress in the Irish debt crisis. All three of the major American indexes finished the day up roughly 1.5% while commodities also rebounded; oil gained 1.9% and gold surged 1.1%. Meanwhile, Treasury markets continued their slump as yields rose once again on the short and medium sections of the curve with the 10 year note yield trending close to the 2.95% mark before easing back to the 2.9% level to finish out the day.
The main catalyst for today’s upswing came from Ireland, as news broke suggesting that the struggling nation was on the cusp of coming to terms with other EU members and the IMF over a bailout. According to Irish central bank governor Patrick Honohan, a loan package worth tens of billions of euros could be on the way, which would help to stabilize the highly indebted country and calm investor fears over the health of the euro zone. Meanwhile, closer to home, General Motors’ return to the publicly traded world went relatively smoothly as the company raised more than $20 billion in what would become the largest initial public offering in American history. The IPO was priced at $33 per share and the company managed to gain roughly 3% in its first day of trading, marking an incredible turnaround for the once iconic company which just 18 months ago was delisted from the NYSE during its bankruptcy proceedings. While it remains to be seen what the future holds for GM, robust investor interest in the offering definitely helped to give markets a boost in today’s session.
