Investors turned towards Washington D.C. on Wednesday, as Congress struck a deal on a health care bill that earned the president’s approval. The agreement marked a big step forward, but battle on health care seems to be far from over, with several lawmakers eagerly awaiting a cost assessment. Elsewhere, concerns over some governments’ finances sent waves through global financial markets as a series of negative credit-ratings actions were announced.
The ETFdb 60 Index, a benchmark designed to measure the performance of the universe of investable assets available through exchange-traded products, added 0.84 points, to close the day at 1,018.33. The ETFdb 60 is now up 1.8% for the fourth quarter.
Reversing trends from recent days, the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) headed lower, losing 2.9% as concerns about a huge glut in supply continued to weigh on the fund. News of another discovery in the South China Sea as well as word that Exxon is going forward with a $15 billion liquefied natural gas project spooked investors who had seen UNG add more than 10% in its previous three sessions (see Four Developments That Could Crush UNG for a complete analysis of the headwinds this ETF faces).
After a four-day slide, the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) recorded a winning session, adding 2.2% despite a slight loss for gold prices. GDX has been hammered in recent sessions, shedding almost 13% over the last week, so Wednesday’s rally may have been a reflection of a market overreaction in previous days.
Disclosure: No positions at time of writing.
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