Social Media ETF Gets Good News From China

In recent days, the Global X Social Media Index ETF (NASDAQ:SOCL) has taken a rest from what has been a breathtaking year-to-date rally of 48 percent, a performance that ranks SOCL near the top of sector ETFs in 2013.

Shares of SOCL slipped Monday, bringing the ETF to its first two-day skid in over a month, on the back of a 10.1 percent loss for Pandora (NYSE:P). Shares of the Internet music provide plummeted after Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) said it brought in more than 11 million new users to its iTunes radio service, cementing the notion that Pandora, which already faces several competitive threats, could have a significant one at its hands with Apple. Pandora is SOCL's sixth-largest holding at a weight of 6.1 percent.

SOCL looks like it will snap the two-day losing streak today thanks to some bullish news. Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), the stock that first drove attention to SOCL jumped to a new all-time earlier today after Citigroup upgraded Mark Zuckerberg's company to Buy while raising its price target on the shares to $55 from $52. Facebook is SOCL's largest holding with a weight of 12.5 percent.

Facebook and SOCL also got some good news after Chinese policymaker decided to lift bans on Web sites previously deemed "politically sensitive," inside the Shanghai Free-trade Zone. Those sites include Facebook, Twitter and newspaper website The New York Times, according to the South China Morning Post.

Speaking of Twitter, the social media company has reportedly decided to list its much ballyhooed initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. Regardless of where Twitter lists, it has already been confirmed SOCL will make room for the stock.

Other top-10 holdings in SOCL include the 'Twitter of China,'Sina (NASDAQ:SINA), LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD), Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN), Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Russia's Google, Yandex (NASDAQ:YNDX).

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Disclosure: Author does not own any of the securities mentioned here.