Week in Review by Sector: Energy Gets Its Plug Pulled, While Bonds Eek Out Gains (OIH, PXJ, TLT)

Nick Perry (Schaeffer's Investment Research) submits: Two weeks ago, we saw an upside bias for the holiday-shortened period, but that was firmly reversed this week:

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Advancing groups were far and few between as only the TLT was able show a noticeable gain. In fact, the normally lethargic bond funds dominate the top performing last as all the equity related funds I track lost ground. The rest of the upside list is composed of stocks that are generally thought of as being interest rate sensitive. Hardest hit were groups related to energy, housing and basic materials.

For a longer-term perspective, the bullets below show how the ETFs listed above have faired over the last six-months, prior to this week.

Prior Six-Month Returns for This Week's Top Performing Sector Exchange Traded Funds:

* iShares Lehman 20+ Year Bond (TLT) -5.8%
* iShares Lehman 7-10 Year Bond (IEF) -2.6%
* iShares Lehman Aggregate Bond Fund (AGG) -1.7%
* iShares Lehman 1-3 Year Bond (SHY) -0.6%
* iShares C&S Realty Majors (ICF) +9.9%
* Wilshire REIT Fund (RWR) +8.8%
* SPDR-Utilities (XLU) +3.4%
* iShares DJ U.S. Real Estate (IYR) +8.4%
* Pharmaceutical HOLDRS (PPH) +5.3%
* iShares DJ U.S. Utilities (IDU) +3.5%
* Telecom HOLDRS (TTH) +6.4%
* Utilities HOLDRS (UTH) +3.5%

Prior Six-Month Returns for This Week's Bottom Performing Sector Exchange Traded Funds:

* iShares GS Semiconductor (IGW) -3.1%
* iShares DJ U.S. Energy (IYE) +8.9%
* SPDR-Energy (XLE) +9.2%
* iShares Silver Trust (SLV) n/a
* PS Semiconductors (PSI) +6.7%
* iShares DJ U.S. Basic Materials (IYM) +10.5%
* iShares GS Natural Resources (IGE) +12.1%
* PS Energy Exploration & Production (PXE) +5.6%
* PS Building & Construction (PKB) -1.8%
* PS WilderHill Clean Energy (PBW) +28.8%
* Oil Service HOLDRS (OIH) +20.0%
* PS Oil Services (PXJ) +15.9%