Top ETFs from Last Week - EDC, AGQ, TYH, TMV, GDX, KOL, EWZ

Each week, I like to publish the past week's hottest ETFs to share some new trends and niche ETFs out there and give investors some new investing/diversification ideas. Last week, emerging markets and commodities continued to show strength while the S&P500 ended with week with a respectable gain of 3.2%. I've made sure to include both some leveraged ETFs with their outsized gains (but take note of leveraged ETF risk of value destruction over time due to daily rebalancing) as well as non-leveraged traditional sector ETFs.

Hot List Leveraged ETFs

EDC - Direxion 3X Emerging Markets - Up 17% - With equities rallying globally and the higher Beta that the emerging market bourses carry, not only did they take it on the chin last year on the way down, but during the recovery, they are rocketing back up at a much faster pace than US equities. EDC is up almost 10X the S&P500 during the 2009 YTD period at 167% vs. 18% for the S&P500.

AGQ - Ultra Silver ProShares - Up 12% - This is a 2X leveraged ETF tracking the return of silver. This one's been a regular on the hot list several times recently, as silver is more volatile than gold, hence, the runups have been even more spectacular. You'll want to check out how silver and other precious metal ETFs are doing in comparison to gold - much better. It's primarily one of many weak dollar ETF plays, but gold tends to get all the press. If you're only investing in the play, silver and other ETFs may actually do much better for you.

TYH - Direxion Daily Technology Bull 3X Shares - Up 10% - This 3X Tech ETF has been a stalwart member of the hottest ETFs updates, as Tech has outperformed most other sectors in US equities. With productivity through the roof and companies coming out of this recession leaner than ever while remaining employees doing everything they can to avoid a layoff, what corporations are spending money on however, is technology to further boost productivity and allow them to remain lean on the payroll expense given the uncertainty of the return of the consumer. Year to date, the Nasdaq is up 34% vs. an 18% gain for the S&P500 and this ETF is now up 170% on the year and 320% since the March lows. The top 3 underlying holdings are Apple (AAPL), Cisco (CSCO) and Google (GOOG).

TMV - Direxion Daily 30-Year Treasury Bear 3x Shares - Up 8% - This 3x leveraged ETF seeks to actually exploit improving market conditions that result from a flight FROM safety by driving up the yield (and price) lower on 30 year Treasuries. Recall that in 2008, we were seeing record lows for yields on Treasuries and in some cases, investors were accepting a negative yield on short dated securities just to have somewhere to stash their funds during the storm. Now, Treasury yields have risen dramatically since earlier in the year and it's possible that the easy money's been made already. However, if you foresee a continued exodus from Treasuries into more risky assets, this and the other Short Treasury ETF plays would be the best move.

Hot List - Sector ETFs (no leverage)

GDX - Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF - Up 12% - This ETF was an interesting study in divergence from the underlying commodity. Over long periods of time, GDX roughly tracks the returns of gold, with the ETF GLD as a proxy. However, last week, GDX returned 12% vs. a return of 5% for GLD. In fact, YTD 2009, GDX has actually outperformed GLD by a margin of 41% vs. 24%. If you're a believer in the displacement of the US Dollar as the world's reserve currency, which would bring a rapid increase in the price of gold (which is why we may be seeing the continued rise of late in anticipation of this eventuality).

KOL - Market Vectors Coal ETF - Up 8% - With a 8% move last week, this ETF continued its tear for the prior 6 months, up 50% vs. a 18% for the S&P500 and 26% for the USO oil ETF, another energy proxy. With a US recovery in hand and coal being the practical source of energy in the US for the foreseeable future, regardless of political promises of "green energy, green jobs" and other worthless promises unsupported by market forces, the underlying companies have been rallying.

EWZ - iShares MSCI Brazil Index - Up 8% - Brazil has staged a nice recovery out of the March lows and continued its ascent into November, up 8% last week. EWZ is up 113% on the year vs. 18% for the S&P500. Brazil is one of many hot emerging market ETFs listed here.

XBI - SPDR S&P Biotech - Up 7% - With large pharma continuing their buying/partnership spree and the typical winter biotech conferences coming up, interest is brewing again. Individual Biotechs are prone to single day pops of 30% and more like the binary event associated with HGSI's lupus drug results this week as I had called last Friday with an option spread position that gained close to 100% 1 trading day later. However, as a sector, XBI has been a bit anemic this year, underperforming the S&P500 over the prior 6 month and YTD periods.