Best and Worst ETFs of 2009

Another year has come and gone, the dust has settled, and now its time to see who made our top ten best and worst ETFs for the year. To avoid duplication, we’ve eliminated the lesser known ETFs that essentially track the same assets as the more popular issues, as well as funds with built in leverage. As you can probably imagine, the top ten list was saturated with energy and emerging market related names. The best overall performer was the Market Vectors Coal ETF (KOL) which was up over 144% for the year. Other top performers in the list were the Market Vectors Russia ETF (RSX), the iShares MSCI Brazil Index ETF (EWZ), and the Market Vectors Steel ETF (SLX).

Best Performers for 2009:
1) 144.6% - Market Vectors Coal ETF (KOL)
2) 139.2% - Market Vectors Russia ETF (RSX)
3) 121.4% - iShares MSCI Brazil Index ETF (EWZ)
4) 112.8% - Market Vectors Steel ETF (SLX)
5) 103.8% - SPDR S&P Emerging Latin America (GML)
6) 102.9% - iShares MSCI Turkey (TUR)
7) 99.0% - SPDR S&P Semiconductor (XSD)
8) 96.6% - Claymore/AlphaShares China Small Cap (HAO)
9) 95.6% - B2B Internet HOLDRs (BHH)
10) 95.1% - WisdomTree India Earnings (EPI)

This year’s dogs are mostly long fixed income, and a few banking related ETFs. The worst performer, was the Vanguard Extended Duration Treasury (EDV) which is sporting a solid -35% return year to date. Following close behind at -23% and -22% were the PowerShares Dynamic Banking (PJB) and the SPDR KBW Regional Banking (KRE), respectively.

Worst Performers for 2009:
1) -35.6% - Vanguard Extended Duration Treasury (EDV)
2) -22.9% - PowerShares Dynamic Banking (PJB)
3) -21.9% - SPDR KBW Regional Banking (KRE)
4) -21.8% - iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury (TLT)
5) -13.4% - SPDR Barclays Capital Long Term Treasury (TLO)
6) -11.1% - PowerShares 1-30 Year Laddered Treasury (PLW)
7) -10.9% - iShares Dow Jones US Regional Banks (IAT)
8) -9.1% - iShares Barclays 10-20 Year Treasury (TLH)
9) -7.8% - PowerShares FTSE RAFI Utilities (PRFU)
10) -7.8% - PowerShares Dynamic Aggressive Growth (PGZ)

Our top ten best and worst lists were created using data pulled from Morningstar.com