The U.S. bourses saw one of the most turbulent weeks in years with the stocks swinging dramatically as worries over the China slowdown peaked, oil prices slumped, the emerging markets reflected weakness, and the interest rates rise again looks uncertain. However, the benchmarks managed to cross all the hurdles and ended the week with modest gains.

This is especially true as the S&P 500 and Dow Jones gained 0.9% and 1.1% respectively last week while the Nasdaq Composite index rose 2.6%. The level of volatility has been acute and can easily be depicted by the weekly asset flows. The largest and ultra-popular SPDR S&P 500 (SPY - ETF report), tracking the S&P 500 with an asset base of around $168.3 billion and average daily volume of around 120 million shares, pulled in about a billion dollars in capital last week following a massive outflow of over $5 billion in the first three days, according to data compiled by etf.com.

Robust performances were driven by a spate of better-than-expected economic data later in the week, suggesting the economy is on a firmer footing and could easily withstand the China slowdown or global growth worries. This lifted investors’ confidence in the economy and the stock markets. Additionally, the positive news flow encouraged investors to look for bargain hunting, sending the stock prices higher. Further, the rebound in crude oil price in the past two trading sessions added to the strength (read: 5 ETFs on Sale with Long-Term Promises).

Amid huge volatility, several ETFs have managed to stay in green and will likely remain so in the weeks ahead given that the U.S. economy is still gaining momentum. Below, we have highlighted four ETFs that have delivered impressive returns over the past week, easily crushing the broader market.

SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Services ETF ((XES - ETF report))

The energy sector has been the biggest gainer as stocks rallied and short covering led to an incredible jump in crude oil price. Notably, U.S. oil surged 17% in just two days, representing the biggest two-day rally in six years. This is also thanks to violence in Yemen, a storm in the Gulf, refinery outages, threat of supply disruption from Africa’s biggest oil producer and a merger deal. While all energy ETFs gained over the past week, XES has been the outperformer returning 11.3% (read: Positive News Flow Sparks Off Rally in Oil ETFs).

The fund targets the oil equipment and service industry of the broad energy segment by tracking the S&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Services Select Industry Index. It offers equal weight exposure across 46 securities with none holding more than 4.18% share in the basket. The fund has amassed $192 million in its asset base while sees solid volume of about 438,000 shares a day on average. Expense ratio came in at 0.35%. It has a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 or ‘Hold’ rating with a High risk outlook.

Guggenheim Solar ETF ((TAN - ETF report))

Solar stocks and ETFs that were beaten badly from tumbling oil prices and the recent China turmoil saw some respite last week. In particular, TAN, which offers exposure to the global solar industry, climbed 6.9%. It follows the MAC Global Solar Energy Index and holds 26 securities in its basket with the largest allocation going to First Solar (FSLR) at 8.6% of total assets. Other firms hold less than 6.8% share. American firms dominate the fund’s portfolio at nearly 42%, followed by China (38.3%) and Canada (4.2%).

The product has amassed $264.9 million in its asset base and trades in solid volume of around 280,000 shares a day. It charges investors 70 bps in fees per year and has a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 with a High risk outlook (read: 4 ETFs Unexpectedly Rocked by China Turmoil).

Market Vectors Semiconductor ETF ((SMH - ETF report))

As the technology sector was one of the major victims of the recent global market crash, it was bound to pick up when market rebounds. This is what happened last week. Technology ETFs logged in strong performances after the energy sector, with semiconductors leading the way higher. All the funds in this corner of the tech space added nearly 6% but still SMH posted gain that was a little higher. This is easily the most popular and liquid ETF in the semiconductor space with AUM of $354 million and average daily volume of roughly 4 million shares (read: Is the Nightmare Over for Tech ETFs Post Market Crash?)

This fund provides exposure to 26 global securities by tracking the Market Vectors US Listed Semiconductor 25 Index. Of these, two firms – Intel (INTC) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM) – dominate the fund’s return with a combined share of 35% while other firms do not hold more than 6.06% of assets. In terms of country exposure, the U.S. takes the top spot at 69% while Taiwan (15.8%) and the Netherlands (10.6%) round off to the top three. The fund charges an expense ratio of 0.35% and gained nearly 6.3% last week. It has a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 with a High risk outlook.

SPDR S&P Biotech ETF ((XBI - ETF report))

Biotech often acts as a defensive sector during market turbulence. This gave an added boost to the sector’s stocks and ETFs. XBI has been a winner in this space, gaining 5.4% last week. With AUM of $2.3 billion and average daily volume of over 1.2 million shares, XBI is extremely liquid and an easily traded fund. It provides equal weight exposure across 105 stocks by tracking the S&P Biotechnology Select Industry Index. This suggests that the product has no concentration issue and offers huge diversification benefits.   

It charges a relatively low fee of 35 bps a year for its exposure and has a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 or ‘Buy’ rating with a High risk outlook.

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