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The first week of March was mixed for Wall Street.The S&P 500 (up 0.81%), the Dow Jones (up 1.82%), the Nasdaq Composite(down 2.1%) and the small-cap Russell 2000 (down 0.40%) were all on a volatile ride due to rising rate worries (read: Top ETF Stories of February Worth Watching in March).
On a positive development, just before the last week started, on Feb 27, the United States sanctioned Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ - Free Report) COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, giving the nation a third shot at fighting the outbreak after BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna (read: How to Trade USFDA's EUA to J&J Vaccine With ETFs).
Such back-to-back releases of vaccines helped the risk-on trade sentiments even further, pushing bond yields higher. Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few inverse/leveraged ETF areas that won last week.
Energy
Last week was great for the energy stocks. Oil prices staged a rally lately with United States Oil Fund LP (USO - Free Report) and United States Brent Oil Fund LP (BNO) adding about 9% each last week. A host of factors aided the rally. Growing vaccine distribution and hopes of hefty stimulus under the Biden presidency along with a dovish Fed boosted hopes of a sooner-than-expected return to normalcy.
Microsectors U.S. Big Oil Index 3X ETN (NRGU - Free Report) – Up 33.1% Past Week
S&P Oil & Gas Expl Bull 3X Direxion (GUSH - Free Report) – Up 24.7%
Ultra Oil & Gas Proshares (DIG) – Up 20.8%
Inverse Biotech
The Nasdaq Biotech Index lost $109.7 million in assets in the first four days of last week. Industries like banks, travel and leisure that underperformed in 2020 are now back with a bang and investors are preferring such reopening value-friendly industries to growth industries. Rising interest rates have also weighed on the growth-oriented biotech sector. As a result, inverse leveraged biotech ETFs registered stellar gains last week.
Big tech, cloud computing and Internet stocks that were clear winners of the pandemic’s stay-at-home mandate started losing in the past few weeks. Growing bets over reopening trades have made this possible. This in turn dulled the appeal for extreme Internet usage which was kind of essential during the pandemic to accomplish distant communication and transaction.
Direxion Daily Cloud Computing Bear 2X Shares – Up 14.2%
DJ Internet Bear 3X Direxion (WEBS - Free Report) – Up 13.9%
Microsectors Fang+ -3X ETN (FNGD) – Up 13.9%
Regional Banks
Banks have been a beneficiary of the recent jump in long-term interest rates. As banks seek to borrow money at short-term rates and lend at long-term rates, a steepening yield curve will earn more on lending and pay less on deposits, thereby leading to a wider spread. This will expand net margins and increase banks’ profits.
Image: Bigstock
Top 4 Inverse/Leveraged ETF Areas of Last Week
The first week of March was mixed for Wall Street.The S&P 500 (up 0.81%), the Dow Jones (up 1.82%), the Nasdaq Composite(down 2.1%) and the small-cap Russell 2000 (down 0.40%) were all on a volatile ride due to rising rate worries (read: Top ETF Stories of February Worth Watching in March).
On a positive development, just before the last week started, on Feb 27, the United States sanctioned Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ - Free Report) COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, giving the nation a third shot at fighting the outbreak after BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna (read: How to Trade USFDA's EUA to J&J Vaccine With ETFs).
Such back-to-back releases of vaccines helped the risk-on trade sentiments even further, pushing bond yields higher. Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few inverse/leveraged ETF areas that won last week.
Energy
Last week was great for the energy stocks. Oil prices staged a rally lately with United States Oil Fund LP (USO - Free Report) and United States Brent Oil Fund LP (BNO) adding about 9% each last week. A host of factors aided the rally. Growing vaccine distribution and hopes of hefty stimulus under the Biden presidency along with a dovish Fed boosted hopes of a sooner-than-expected return to normalcy.
Microsectors U.S. Big Oil Index 3X ETN (NRGU - Free Report) – Up 33.1% Past Week
S&P Oil & Gas Expl Bull 3X Direxion (GUSH - Free Report) – Up 24.7%
Ultra Oil & Gas Proshares (DIG) – Up 20.8%
Inverse Biotech
The Nasdaq Biotech Index lost $109.7 million in assets in the first four days of last week. Industries like banks, travel and leisure that underperformed in 2020 are now back with a bang and investors are preferring such reopening value-friendly industries to growth industries. Rising interest rates have also weighed on the growth-oriented biotech sector. As a result, inverse leveraged biotech ETFs registered stellar gains last week.
S&P Biotech Bear 3X Direxion (LABD - Free Report) – Up 17.4%
Inverse Cloud Computing & Internet
Big tech, cloud computing and Internet stocks that were clear winners of the pandemic’s stay-at-home mandate started losing in the past few weeks. Growing bets over reopening trades have made this possible. This in turn dulled the appeal for extreme Internet usage which was kind of essential during the pandemic to accomplish distant communication and transaction.
Direxion Daily Cloud Computing Bear 2X Shares – Up 14.2%
DJ Internet Bear 3X Direxion (WEBS - Free Report) – Up 13.9%
Microsectors Fang+ -3X ETN (FNGD) – Up 13.9%
Regional Banks
Banks have been a beneficiary of the recent jump in long-term interest rates. As banks seek to borrow money at short-term rates and lend at long-term rates, a steepening yield curve will earn more on lending and pay less on deposits, thereby leading to a wider spread. This will expand net margins and increase banks’ profits.
Regional Banks Bull 3X Direxion (DPST - Free Report) – Up 13.6%
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