Marijuana ETF, Cannabis Stocks Looking to End Week with a Gain

The ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF (NYSEArca: MJ) hasn’t been immune to the sell-offs occurring in the major U.S. indexes in the month of October even as the full legalization of marijuana in Canada took place over a week ago, but MJ is hoping to end this week on a positive note as stocks continue to get roiled.

While the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell as much as 500 points in Friday’s trading session, MJ managed to eke out a gain of 0.76% as of 2:00 p.m. ET. MJ has been tracking down against the major indexes the last five days, but outperforming them within the last three months.

All in all, it’s been a rough week for cannabis stocks with industry-leading names like Tilray (TLRY) and Canopy Growth Corporation (CGC) taking losses, but today, TLRY was up 5.46%, while CGC managed a slight gain of 0.35%. MJ, the first U.S.-listed ETF to target the cannabis and marijuana industry, is up 23.58% year-to-date and 30.35% within the past year, according to Yahoo! Finance performance numbers.

MJ seeks to provide investment results correspond generally to the total return performance of the Prime Alternative Harvest Index, which is concentrated in the pharmaceuticals and tobacco industries. The serendipitous growth of these cannabis stocks may force large pharmaceutical companies to partner with these companies to effectively hedge against the marijuana medicine industry invading their market share, according to Tilray CEO Brendan Kennedy.

Related: Marijuana ETF Climbs as Tilray Becomes First Canadian Company to Import Pot to U.S.