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May ETF Review: 40 Best, 29 Worst Fund Performers

Published 2022-06-01, 02:42 a/m
Updated 2020-09-02, 02:05 a/m

Volatility continued to dominate Wall Street throughout May, as many investors seemed to have followed the adage 'sell in May, then go away.'

As we write on May 31, the markets are again giving mixed signals. Yet, the most recent meeting minutes released by the Federal Reserve (Fed) meant more optimism among market participants. As a result, major stock exchanges and numerous exchange-traded funds (ETFs) rallied last week.

Today, we review ETFs that were either clear winners or apparent losers in May. Our list offers just a glimpse of numerous funds’ monthly performances and excludes leveraged and inverse ETFs.

Several of these funds could inspire readers to put together long-term diversified portfolios within their risk/return parameters. We’ve already covered many of these ETFs, and we plan to discuss others in the future.

3 ETFs Following The 3 Major US Indices

Before we move on to the best- and worst-performing ETFs, let’s look at funds that offer exposure to three bellwether Wall Street indices—the Dow Jones, the S&P 500, and the NASDAQ.

40 Winner ETFs In May:

United States Gasoline Fund, LP (NYSE:UGA): up 19.6% in May

Invesco Dynamic Energy Exploration & Production ETF (NYSE:PXE): up 19.2%

Energy Select Sector SPDR® Fund (NYSE:XLE): up 16.3%

iShares U.S. Oil Equipment & Services ETF (NYSE:IEZ): up 12.6%

Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF (NYSE:LIT): up 12.4%

United States Natural Gas Fund, LP (NYSE:UNG): up 11.6%

First Trust Latin America AlphaDEX® Fund (NASDAQ:FLN): up 10.9%

Invesco Solar ETF (NYSE:TAN): up 10.7%

VanEck Oil Refiners ETF (NYSE:CRAK): up 9.5%

Global X MSCI Portugal ETF (NYSE:PGAL): up 9.2%

VanEck Rare Earth/Strategic Metals ETF (NYSE:REMX): up 8.7%

U.S. Global Sea to Sky Cargo ETF (NYSE:SEA): up 8.5%

InfraCap MLP ETF (NYSE:AMZA): up 8.6%

ALPS Clean Energy (NYSE:ACES): up 8.1%

Pacer American Energy Independence ETF (NYSE:USAI): up 8.1%

ProShares Equities for Rising Rates ETF (NASDAQ:EQRR): up 7.2%

Tortoise North American Pipeline Fund (NYSE:TPYP): up 7.1%

KraneShares Electric Vehicles and Future Mobility Index (NYSE:KARS): up 6.8%

iShares MSCI Europe Financials ETF (NASDAQ:EUFN): up 6.9%

Invesco Dynamic Semiconductors ETF (NYSE:PSI): up 6.8%

iShares S&P GSCI Commodity-Indexed Trust (NYSE:GSG): up 6.5%

Invesco DWA Utilities Momentum ETF (NASDAQ:PUI): up 6.1%

iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF (NYSE:ITB): up 5.5%

Teucrium Wheat (NYSE:WEAT): up 5.2%

Defiance 5G Next Gen Connectivity ETF (NYSE:FIVG): up 5.2%

iPath® Bloomberg Coffee Subindex Total Return(SM) ETN (NYSE:JO): up 4.9%

iShares Emerging Markets Infrastructure ETF (NASDAQ:EMIF): up 4.6%

Global X Video Games & Esports ETF (NASDAQ:HERO): up 4.5%

ALPS International Sector Dividend Dogs ETF (NYSE:IDOG): up 4.9%

Invesco Financial Preferred ETF (NYSE:PGF): up 4.7%

Invesco Dynamic Biotechnology & Genome ETF (NYSE:PBE): up 4.4%=

iShares U.S. Pharmaceuticals ETF (NYSE:IHE): up 4.3%

SPDR SSgA Multi-Asset Real Return ETF (NYSE:RLY): up 4.2%

iShares Mortgage Real Estate Capped ETF (NYSE:REM): up 4.1%

Teucrium Sugar (NYSE:CANE): up 2.9%

iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF (NYSE:EWU): up 2.8%

Invesco Russell 1000 Equal Weight ETF (NYSE:EQAL): up 2.7%

Xtrackers MSCI Eurozone Hedged Equity ETF (NYSE:DBEZ): up 1.3%

Direxion Hydrogen ETF (NYSE:HJEN): up 1.1%

Pacer Trendpilot™ 100 ETF (NYSE:PTNQ): up 1.0%

29 ETF Decliners In May:

Simplify Volt Cloud and Cybersecurity Disruption ETF (NYSE:VCLO): down 18.4% in May

WisdomTree Cybersecurity Fund (NASDAQ:WCBR): down 14.4%

Aberdeen Standard Physical Palladium Shares ETF (NYSE:PALL): down 13.3%

Renaissance IPO ETF (NYSE:IPO): down 12.6%

Virtus LifeSci Biotech Clinical Trials ETF (NYSE:BBC): down 12.2%

U.S. Global GO GOLD and Precious Metal Miners ETF (NYSE:GOAU): down 11.6%

ETFMG Alternative Harvest (NYSE:MJ): down 11.5%

ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (NYSE:ARKF): down 11.4%

Amplify Online Retail ETF (NYSE:IBUY): down 11.2%

Loncar Cancer Immunotherapy ETF (NASDAQ:CNCR): down 10.0%

Pacer Benchmark Industrial Real Estate SCTR (NYSE:INDS): down 10.0%

ALPS Medical Breakthroughs ETF (NYSE:SBIO): down 9.8%

ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (NYSE:ARKW): down 9.2%

SoFi Gig Economy ETF (NASDAQ:GIGE): down 9.2%

SPDR® S&P Internet ETF (NYSE:XWEB): down 9.2%

Direxion Work From Home ETF (NYSE:WFH): down 9.1%

ARK Israel Innovative Technology ETF (NYSE:IZRL): down 8.7%

iShares Evolved U.S. Discretionary Spending ETF (NYSE:IEDI): down 6.7%

SmartETFs Advertising & Marketing Technology ETF (NYSE:MRAD): down 6.4%

Global X Millennials Consumer ETF (NASDAQ:MILN): down 6.5%

SPDR® FactSet Innovative Technology ETF (NYSE:XITK): down 5.8%

Innovator Loup Frontier Tech (NYSE:LOUP): down 5.6%

First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund (NYSE:FRI): down 5.4%

VanEck Retail ETF (NASDAQ:RTH): down 4.9%

iPath® Series B Bloomberg Cotton Subindex Total Return ETN (NYSE:BAL): down 4.6%

ProShares Pet Care (NYSE:PAWZ): down 3.4%

Invesco DWA Financial Momentum ETF (NASDAQ:PFI): down 2.8%

Invesco Dynamic Leisure and Entertainment ETF (NYSE:PEJ): down 2.7%

Global X Founder-Run Companies ETF (NYSE:BOSS): down 2.1%

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