Notable ETF Movers of the Day 12/22: XLF, USO, XLE Higher; UNG, SMH, VXX Lowe

• Financial Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLF) up 1.01% to $15.97. One specific item alone isn't enough to move the financials, overall bullish sentiment may be returning back into the market after headlines reported that the S&P 500 index was back above levels seen before the Lehman Brothers collapse in 2008. Institutional investors may also be looking to keep markets in the green to finish the year strong, as the next ten trading days or so will be thinner amid a smack of holidays.
  
  
• United States Oil (NYSE: USO) up 0.63% to $38.53. Crude prices increased to their highest level since October, 2008, as inventories fell 5.33 million barrels for the week ended December 18, 2010.
  
  
• Energy Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLE) up 0.27% to $67.17. Though seeing some upside today from crude and gasoline inventory reports, the ETF is also bolstered by Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN), which is seeing green today following two ratings initiations. Lazard started the shares at Buy, and CapitalOne initiated at Add. DVN shares are up 1.9% today.

• United States Natural Gas (NYSE: UNG) down 1.25% to $5.53. Nat gas is lower again today on continued outlook for milder weather in the early pary of January. Data tomorrow may also show a larger-than-average draw from nat gas inventories based on chillier weather over the last two weeks. Bloomberg analyst are expecting a drop of 180 billion cubic feet.
  
  
• Semiconductor HOLDRs (NYSE: SMH) down 0.49% to $32.49. Seeing downside today in part from Xilinx Inc. (Nasdaq: XLNX), who cut their third quarter sales outlook late yesterday. Shares of XLNX are down 0.8% today.
  
  
• iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (NYSE: VXX) down 0.92% to $36.48. Despite economic data today that mostly missed expectations, the markets are trading higher, and the near-term CBOE VIX index is 4% lower as a result. Revised GDP of 2.6% missed expectations of 2.7%, existing home sales of 4.68 million edged out the consensus calling for 4.65 million, and MBA Mortgage apps fell 18.6% for the week ended December 17, 2010. Also notable is the FHFA Home Price Index coming in at 0.7% for October, from a drop of 1.2% in September.

You May Also Be Interested In

• Why these analysts say this strategy "may help in choppier times"
• KeyBanc Upgrades Sherwin-Williams (SHW) to Overweight
• A strong earnings season looks likely to help restore market confidence - UBS