The year 2022 has been all about surging global inflation due to supply-chain issues, the Russia-Ukraine war, high energy prices, a commodity super-cycle, a super-hawkish Fed, rising rates across the globe, risk-off trade sentiments and a global market crash.The S&P 500 is off about 17%, the Dow Jones has retreated 7.1%, the Nasdaq has lost 28.8%, the Russell 2000 has fallen 17.6% this year (as of Nov 18, 2022).Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few ETF areas that bucked the losing trend and emerged winners.EnergyCredit Suisse S&P MLP Index ETN MLPO – Up 118.2%Invesco Dynamic Energy Exploration & Production ETF PXE – Up 79.2%Oil prices have been in decent shape lately with WTI crude ETF United States Oil Fund LP (USO) gaining 25% this year mainly on geopolitical tension in East Europe, OPEC+ output cuts and demand recovery due to economic reopening. Prices increased considerably as OPEC+ producers agreed on Oct 5 deep output cuts, seeking to spur a recovery in crude prices despite repeated calls from U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration for the group to pump more to lower fuel prices and contain global inflation.Rate Hedge ETFSimplify Interest Rate Hedge ETF PFIX – Up 83.8%Advocate Rising Rate Hedge ETF RRH – Up 39.1%The interest rate hedge corner of the fixed-income market has been an area to watch lately due to rising interest rates. Investors are flocking to PFIX and RRH to combat rising rate worries. The Fed has hiked rates massively this year. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic recently said that he was comfortable to retreat from 75-basis-point increases at the next meeting but declared that rates may reach 4.75%-5% before the Fed is done with its current tightening cycle.Defensive ETFKFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures Index Strategy ETF KMLM – Up 32.3%AGFiQ US Market Neutral Anti-Beta Fund BTAL – Up 15.2%As risk-off trade sentiments prevailed this year, defensive investments gained momentum. Rising rate concerns are rife globally. And this concern is not likely to go away soon. Hence, equity market volatility is here to stay for some time. As a result, investors are likely to consider alternative assets to protect their portfolios against volatility.CommoditiesiPath Series B Bloomberg Nickel Subindex Total Return ETN JJN – Up 24.7%iShares U.S. ETF Trust iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF COMT – Up 21.2%After a decade of underperformance, commodities are experiencing a huge rally due to the Russia-Ukraine war, sky-high inflation, pent-up demand after the COVID-19 pandemic and widespread vaccination. From crude to metals to crops, commodities performed great in 2022 as investors betted big on inflationary expectations and eyeing everything that provide hedges for inflation. Especially, the agricultural commodity market has been an area to watch lately, given worries over the growing global food crisis and rising prices.DividendsInvesco S&P Ultra Dividend Revenue ETF RDIV – Up 9.2%WisdomTree US High Dividend Fund DHS – Up 8.6%Dividend-paying companies are usually good for value investing and are in demand when volatility flares up. Investors have two options in this field – one with steady dividend growth (or dividend aristocrats) and the other with high yield. Companies that raise dividend regularly appear steadier than those that offer higher yields. But then high-yielding ones also make up for the capital losses to a large-extent, if there is any. Several dividend ETFs offered better returns than the S&P 500 this year. Want key ETF info delivered straight to your inbox? Zacks’ free Fund Newsletter will brief you on top news and analysis, as well as top-performing ETFs, each week.Get it free >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF (COMT): ETF Research Reports WisdomTree U.S. High Dividend ETF (DHS): ETF Research Reports AGFiQ US Market Neutral AntiBeta ETF (BTAL): ETF Research Reports Invesco S&P Ultra Dividend Revenue ETF (RDIV): ETF Research Reports iPath Series B Bloomberg Nickel Subindex Total Return ETN (JJN): ETF Research Reports Invesco Dynamic Energy Exploration & Production ETF (PXE): ETF Research Reports Credit Suisse S&P MLP Index ETN (MLPO): ETF Research Reports KFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures Index Strategy ETF (KMLM): ETF Research Reports Simplify Interest Rate Hedge ETF (PFIX): ETF Research Reports Advocate Rising Rate Hedge ETF (RRH): ETF Research Reports To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research