Notable ETF Movers of the Day 12/07: (VXX) (GLD) (SMH) Higher; (XOP) (UNG) (XLF) Lower

• iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (NYSE: VXX) up 2.37 percent to $41.50. The CBOE VIX is 3.4 percent better Wednesday, as investors and traders heed some caution as one German official (who wanted to be kept anonymous) said potential for the euro area to reach a deal this week looks bleak. Overall, U.S. markets are hanging in negative territory Wednesday.
  
  
• SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD) up 0.29 percent to $168.66. With markets shaky, investors are looking for a safe haven to protect gains. Many are turning back to gold, sending February contracts $6.8 higher to $1,731.8 per ounce on the Comex.
  
  
• Semiconductor HOLDRS (NYSE: SMH) up 0.77 percent to $31.34. Just edging into positive territory as markets are mounting a bit of a rebound. Initial reaction from earlier European news seems to be ebbing as investors are now focused on Friday's EU summit. Applied Materials (Nasdaq: AMAT) is leading the charge, up 1.7 percent on the session.

• SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Prod (NYSE: XOP) down 2.13 percent to $55.16. Lower as nat gas continues to fall on still-high storage levels and delayed draws by consumers as warmer weather continues to linger. Leading lower is Approach Resources (Nasdaq: AREX), which is down 7.5 percent on the session.
  
  
• United States Natural Gas (NYSE: UNG) down 1.50 percent to $7.57. Speaking of natural gas, January contracts are $0.049 lower to $3.438 per mmBtu on the Comex. Along with weather, the EIA cut it's nat gas price for 2012 by 10.4 percent to $3.70 per mmBtu.
  
  
• Financial Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLF) down 0.42 percent to $13.12. Financials largely mixed Wednesday, as some are presenting at a UBS conference in New York, highlighting their current performance and expectations moving forward. J.P. Morgan (NYSE: JPM) is faring the best, up about 1 percent on the session, while Citi (NYSE: C) is off 1.5 percent after announcing it will lay off about 4,200 workers and take a $400 million charge in the fouth quarter.

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