2019 has turned out to be a banner year for stocks. The S&P 500 ETF is up about 29%, the Dow 23%, while the tech heavy Nasdaq has surged about 35% this year. These gains combined with 2018’s negative return represent the best year-over-year performance for stocks since 2009, thanks to Fed rate cuts, trade optimism and a healthy economy.

Technology is the best performing sector year-to-date--up 45%.  Energy is the worst performing sector, with a gain of just 5%.

The Invesco Solar ETF (TAN Quick QuoteTAN - Free Report) is the best performing ETF of 2019. The cost of renewable energy generation has been falling in recent years with continued technological innovation, and that has changed the competitive balance between clean and traditional energy.

TAN’s top holdings include Enphase Energy (ENPH Quick QuoteENPH - Free Report) and SolarEdge Technologies (SEDG Quick QuoteSEDG - Free Report) that have soared almost 400% and 170% respectively.

Chip stocks have a lot of exposure to China and have benefited from trade optimism. The iShares PHLX Semiconductor ETF (SOXX Quick QuoteSOXX - Free Report) is up 56% in 2019. Its top holdings include NVidia (NVDA Quick QuoteNVDA - Free Report) and AMD (AMD Quick QuoteAMD - Free Report) .

The Aberdeen Standard Physical Palladium Shares ETF (PALL Quick QuotePALL - Free Report) is a physically backed ETF seeking to match the price of palladium, a precious metal that is used in catalytic converters.

The Virtus LifeSci Biotech Clinical Trials ETF (BBC Quick QuoteBBC - Free Report) invests in clinical trials stage biotechnology companies.

To learn more about these ETFs, please watch the short video above.

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