Historically, September has been a volatile and difficult period for equity markets. This year was no different. Today, we review exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that were clear winners and losers so far in 2021.
We provide fund returns over the past nine months, as well as their most recent returns for the month of September. Understandably, our list is not exhaustive and does not include leveraged and inverse ETFs.
A number of these funds could inspire readers to put together long-term diversified portfolios within their risk/return parameters. We've covered a large number of these funds previously, and we plan to discuss others in the future.
3 ETFs Following The 3 Major U.S. Indices
Before we move on to best performers, let's take a look at funds that give exposure to the three most-followed US indices—the Dow Jones, the S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite.
Although the prices of these three ETFs have declined this month, their year-to-date returns are still robust:
SPDR® Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (NYSE:DIA), which tracks the Dow Jones Industrial Average, dipped 3.2% in September, but is up 12.6% year-to-date.
SPDR® S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 index, lost 3.5% in September, but is up 16.3% YTD.
Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ), which tracks the NASDAQ 100 index, lost 4.1% in September, but is up 14.9% YTD.
Now let’s look at other winners and losers in September.
25 Winners
North Shore Global Uranium Mining ETF (NYSE:URNM): up 26.9% in September and up 77.2% YTD.
United States Natural Gas Fund (NYSE:UNG): up 25.9% in September and up 104.1% YTD.
Global X MSCI China Energy ETF (NYSE:CHIE): up 13.3% in September and up 52.1% YTD.
Breakwave Dry Bulk Shipping ETF (NYSE:BDRY): up 25.9% in September and up 362.9% YTD.
Global X Uranium ETF (NYSE:URA): up 19.5% in September and up 53.8% YTD.
Invesco Dynamic Energy Exploration & Production ETF (NYSE:PXE): up 17.9% in September and up 87.5% YTD.
Vanguard Energy Index Fund ETF Shares (NYSE:VDE): up 9.4% in September and up 44.2% YTD.
iPath® Series B Bloomberg Copper Subindex Total Return ETN (NYSE:JJC): up 8.8% in September and up 98.8% YTD.
VanEck Oil Services ETF (NYSE:OIH): up 7.0% in September and up 29.4% YTD.
iPath® S&P GSCI® Total Return Index ETN (NYSE:GSP): up 6.8% in September and up 47.7% YTD.
Franklin FTSE Russia ETF (NYSE:FLRU): up 6.2% in September and up 32.1% YTD.
SPDR® S&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Services ETF (NYSE:XES): up 6.1% in September and up 22.1% YTD.
iShares S&P GSCI Commodity-Indexed Trust (NYSE:GSG): up 4.3% in September and up 35.7% YTD.
KraneShares Global Carbon ETF (NYSE:KRBN): up 3.2% in September and up 67.3% YTD.
Columbia India Consumer ETF (NYSE:INCO): up 3.0% in September and up 18.9% YTD.
iShares Bloomberg Roll Select Broad Commodity ETF (NYSE:CMDY): up 2.9% in September and up 26.8% YTD.
iPath® Bloomberg Coffee Subindex Total Return(SM) ETN (NYSE:JO): up 2.7% in September and up 42.5% YTD.
SPDR S&P® North American Natural Resources ETF (NYSE:NANR): up 2.5% in September and up 20.7% YTD.
Invesco Dynamic Leisure and Entertainment ETF (NYSE:PEJ): up 2.9% in September and up 27.2% YTD.
iShares Emerging Markets Infrastructure ETF (NASDAQ:EMIF): up 2.1% in September and up 0.4% YTD.
KraneShares MSCI All China Health Care Index ETF (NYSE:KURE): up 1.9% in September but down 6.2% YTD.
Invesco DB Base Metals Fund (NYSE:DBB): up 1.8% in September and up 22.0% YTD.
SPDR® S&P Transportation ETF (NYSE:XTN): up 1.2% in September and up 22.7% YTD.
iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF (NYSE:KSA): up 1.1% in September and up 32.9% YTD.
Defiance Next Gen SPAC Derived ETF (NYSE:SPAK): up 0.6% in September but down 19.4% YTD.
40 Losers
Aberdeen Standard Physical Palladium Shares ETF (NYSE:PALL): down 22.4% in September and down 24.8% YTD.
iShares MSCI Brazil ETF (NYSE:EWZ): down 13.12% in September and down 12.1% YTD.
US Global GO GOLD and Precious Metal Miners ETF (NYSE:GOAU): down 12.4% in September and down 19.9% YTD.
Sprott Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:SGDJ): down 12.3% in September and down 26.7% YTD.
Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:SIL): down 11.7% in September and down 23.9% YTD.
Cannabis (NYSE:THCX): down 11.4% in September but up 3.2% YTD.
iShares MSCI Turkey ETF (NASDAQ:TUR): down 11.4% in September and down 20.1% YTD.
ARK Genomic Revolution ETF (NYSE:ARKG): down 11.3% in September and down 19.4% YTD.
iShares Latin America 40 ETF (NYSE:ILF): down 10.7% in September and down 8.5% YTD.
iShares MSCI Finland ETF (NYSE:EFNL): down 9.6% in September but up 5.7% YTD.
Wells Fargo Utilities and High Income Fund (NYSE:ERH): down 9.5% in September but up 5.0% YTD.
Franklin FTSE Hong Kong ETF (NYSE:FLHK): down 9.0% in September and down 3.5% YTD.
Global X MSCI Nigeria ETF (NYSE:NGE): down 8.9% in September and down 7.9% YTD.
Global X MSCI Pakistan ETF (NYSE:PAK): down 8.6% in September and down 14.9% YTD.
ARK Innovation ETF (NYSE:ARKK): down 8.1% in September and down 10.3% YTD.
Aberdeen Standard Physical Precious Metals Basket Shares ETF (NYSE:GLTR): down 7.8% in September and down 14.0% YTD.
Renaissance International IPO ETF (NYSE:IPOS): down 7.3% in September and down 17.9% YTD.
VanEck Steel ETF (NYSE:SLX): down 13.2% in September but up 23.5% YTD.
iShares MSCI Global Metals & Mining Producers ETF (NYSE:PICK): down 11.8% in September but up 9.7% YTD.
Amplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF (NYSE:BLOK): down 11.5% in September but up 30.1% YTD.
Roundhill BITKRAFT Esports & Digital Entertainment ETF (NYSE:NERD): down 7.2% in September and down 15.0% YTD.
First Trust International Equity Opportunities ETF (NASDAQ:FPXI): down 7.2% in September and down 7.4% YTD.
iShares MSCI United Kingdom Small-Cap ETF (NYSE:EWUS): down 7.1% in September but up 10.3% YTD.
First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index Fund (NASDAQ:QCLN)): down 7.1% in September and down 11.4% YTD.
Global X Cybersecurity ETF (NASDAQ:BUG): down 6.9% in September but up 7.7% YTD.
ARK Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF (NYSE:ARKQ): down 6.1% in September but up 3.1% YTD.
Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta® Europe Equity ETF (NYSE:GSEU): down 6.1% in September but up 8.1% YTD.
O’Shares Europe Quality Dividend ETF (NYSE:OEUR): down 7.2% in September but up 11.0% YTD.
Simplify Volt Cloud and Cybersecurity Disruption ETF (NYSE:VCLO): down 6.4% in September but up 12.1% YTD.
WisdomTree Global ex-US Real Estate Fund (NYSE:DRW): down 6.2% in September and down 2.9% YTD.
Global X MSCI China Information Technology ETF (NYSE:CHIK): down 6.0% in September but up 6.8% YTD.
iShares US Technology ETF (NYSE:IYW): down 6.2% in September but up 19.5% YTD.
Defiance 5G Next Gen Connectivity ETF (NYSE:FIVG): down 5.9% in September but up 8.3% YTD.
Invesco DWA Technology Momentum ETF (NASDAQ:PTF): down 5.8% in September but up 6.2% YTD.
Amplify International Online Retail ETF (NYSE:XBUY): down 5.8% in September and down 12.2% YTD.
Janus Henderson Small Cap Growth Alpha ETF (NASDAQ:JSML): down 5.8% in September but up 4.2% YTD.
Alpha Architect International Quantitative Momentum ETF (NYSE:IMOM): down 5.8% in September and down 0.2% YTD.
Pacer Emerging Markets Cash Cows 100 ETF (NASDAQ:ECOW): down 3.6% in September but up 6.1% YTD.
First Trust NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Smart Grid Infrastructure Index Fund (NASDAQ:GRID): down 5.6% in September but up 15.9% YTD.
ProShares Pet Care (NYSE:PAWZ): down 5.5% in September but up 8.9% YTD.