Top Performing ETFs For May 2021 Gold and silver miners as well as oil and energy ETFs dominate the list. Author: Gold and silver miners as well as oil and energy ETFs dominate the list. May was a month of relatively modest returns for U.S. stocks. The S&P 500 (SPY), the Russell 2000 (IWM) and the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) were all little changed, while U.S. Treasuries were essentially unchanged. International stocks performed better with developed markets gaining around 3% and emerging markets adding 2%. The big story of the month, however, was the commodities market. Prices on everything from lumber to steel to wheat to oil have been soaring. Industrial commodity prices in some cases have come crashing back down to earth, but precious metals have done well as inflation expectations continue to rise and the dollar continues to fall.