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5 Leveraged ETFs That Gained More Than 30% in July

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Amid higher inflation and recession fears, Wall Street ended July on a solid note. All the three major indices logged in the best month since 2020. The Nasdaq Composite was the outperformer, up roughly 12.4%, while the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 gained 6.7% and 9.1%, respectively.

This has resulted in huge demand for leveraged ETFs as investors sought to register big gains in a short span. We highlight a bunch of the best-performing leveraged equity ETFs from different corners of the market that gained more than 30% in July. These include Direxion Daily Homebuilders & Supplies Bull 3X Shares (NAIL - Free Report) , Direxion Daily Consumer Discretionary Bull 3X Shares (WANT - Free Report) , Direxion Daily Technology Bull 3x Shares (TECL - Free Report) , Daily S&P 500 High Beta Bull 3X Shares (HIBL - Free Report) , and Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3x Shares (SOXL - Free Report) . These funds will continue to be investors’ darlings, at least in the near term, provided the sentiments remain bullish.

The central bank hiked interest rates for the fourth consecutive time this year. Last month, the Fed raised interest rates by 75 bps as expected in the range of 2.25% and 2.5% to fight inflation and said it is “strongly committed to returning inflation to its 2% objective.” The central bank also hinted that it could slow the pace of its rate hike campaign at some point (read: Fed Hikes Rates by 0.75%: ETFs to Win).

On the other side, U.S. economic growth slowed down, with GDP contracting 0.9% annually for the second quarter, followed by a 1.6% decline in the first quarter. This might prompt the Fed to scale back its interest rate hiking cycle in the fall, resulting in risk-on trade.

We have profiled the ETFs in detail below:

Direxion Daily Homebuilders & Supplies Bull 3X Shares (NAIL - Free Report) - Up 56%

Direxion Daily Homebuilders & Supplies Bull 3X Shares provides leveraged exposure to homebuilders. It creates a three times long position in the Dow Jones U.S. Select Home Construction Index.

Direxion Daily Homebuilders & Supplies Bull 3X Shares charges an annual fee of 94 bps and trades in a good average daily volume of about 732,000 shares. The fund has accumulated $163.7 million in its asset base.

Direxion Daily Consumer Discretionary Bull 3X Shares (WANT - Free Report) – Up 53.5%

Direxion Daily Consumer Discretionary Bull 3X Shares offers leveraged exposure play in the consumer discretionary sector. It provides three times exposure to the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector Index, charging 95 bps in annual fees (read: Buy Discretionary ETFs on Improving Consumer Sentiment).

Direxion Daily Consumer Discretionary Bull 3X Shares has AUM of $29.9 million and an average daily volume of 76,000 shares.

Direxion Daily Technology Bull 3x Shares (TECL - Free Report) – Up 37.8%

Direxion Daily Technology Bull 3x Shares targets the broad technology sector with three times exposure to the Technology Select Sector Index.

Direxion Daily Technology Bull 3x Shares has amassed about $2 billion in its asset base and charges 93 bps in fees per year. Volume is good as it exchanges around 4 million shares a day, on average.

Daily S&P 500 High Beta Bull 3X Shares (HIBL - Free Report) – Up 37%

Daily S&P 500 High Beta Bull 3X Shares offers three times exposure to the performance of the S&P 500 High Beta Index. The index selects 100 securities to include in the index from the S&P 500 Index that have the highest sensitivity to market movements, or “beta” over the past 12 months.

Daily S&P 500 High Beta Bull 3X Shares has gathered $59.4 million in its asset base and trades in an average daily volume of 238,000 shares. The fund charges 95 bps in fees per year from its investors.

Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3x Shares (SOXL - Free Report) – Up 36.2%

Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3x Shares targets the semiconductor corner of the technology sector with three times leveraged exposure to the ICE Semiconductor Index. Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3x Shares has amassed about $4.8 billion in its asset base while charging 89 bps in fees per year.

Volume is good as it exchanges 57.2 million shares per day on average.

Bottom Line

As a caveat, investors should note that these products are extremely volatile and suitable only for short-term traders. Additionally, the daily rebalancing — when combined with leverage — may make these products deviate significantly from the expected long-term performance figures (see: all the Leveraged Equity ETFs here).

Still, for ETF investors bullish on U.S. stocks for the near term, either of the above products can be an interesting choice. Clearly, a near-term long could be intriguing for those with high-risk tolerance and a belief that the trend is the friend in this corner of the investing world.

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