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4 Inverse leveraged ETFs of Last Week

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Wall Street crashed last week on renewed virus fear, election uncertainty and subdued tech earnings. The S&P 500, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq lost about 3.8%, 4.3% and 3.8%, respectively, last week. While new restrictions and lockdowns in Europe and United States owing to rising virus cases weighed on investors’ sentiments, the Nov 3 U.S. presidential election has kept the markets edgy (read: Trick or Treat Ahead for Tech ETFs After Earnings Subdue Mood?).

The coronavirus surge in Europe has prompted France and Germany to re-impose lockdowns. The moves would follow similar restrictions executed over the past few weeks in Italy and Spain. Meanwhile, the United States, which saw more than 500,000 cases over past week, has seen record daily infections.

Also, the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) lost 2.5% in the after-hour session on Oct 29 following earnings results from the Big Tech companies. Although most of the reported third-quarter results beat expectations, shares took a beating due to underperformance in factors like non-financial metrics or guidance.

Among other major developments, the U.S. economy expanded at a historic 33.1% annual rate in the third quarter — rebounding from an acute plunge in the spring, as the economy was under lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak. The Commerce Department’s estimated third-quarter growth, however, recovered only about two-thirds of the output lost early this year. The remaining one-third is yet to be gained.

Meanwhile coronavirus treatment and vaccine development are showing hopes. Moderna Inc. (MRNA) is "actively" preparing to launch its potential coronavirus vaccine mRNA-1273. Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) is planning to start testing its experimental COVID-19 vaccine among those aged 12 to 18 as soon as possible.

Eli Lilly and Company’s (LLY) initial agreement with the U.S. government to provide 300,000 vials of bamlanivimab (LY-CoV555) 700 mg for $375 million looks encouraging. Moreover, Gilead Sciences (GILD) received FDA approval for the antiviral drug Veklury (remdesivir) for treating patients with COVID-19 requiring hospitalization (read: Will Coronavirus Vaccine & Treatment Optimism Drive These ETFs?).

Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few inverse leveraged ETFs that soared last week.

ProShares UltraPro Short Dow30 (SDOW - Free Report) – Up 20.95%

The Dow Jones has been one of the most-sensitive indexes to the coronavirus crisis as it logged the highest single-day losses of 2,997 points on Mar 16, 2,352.60 points on Mar 12 and 2,013.76 points on Mar 9. In June, the index recorded 1,861.82 points of one-day losses while it shed 1,190 points in one day in late February.  

So, no wonder, the index put up an awful performance last week on the second wave of lockdowns. Thus, this inverse leveraged fund that offers three times the inverse (-3X) of the underlying index the Dow Jones Industrial Average, gained last week.

Daily Dow Jones Internet Bear 3X Shares (WEBS - Free Report) – Up 20.52%

Tech or internet companies’ shares took a beating last week after earnings report. The tech crash boosted WEBS. The fund offers 300% of the inverse of the performance of the Dow Jones Internet Composite Index.

Direxion Daily S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production Bear 2x Shares (DRIP - Free Report) – Up 20.15%

As coronavirus cases rose, fears of more lockdowns dragged down oil prices. United States Oil Fund, LP (USO - Free Report) lost 4.5% last week. Naturally, the fund DRIP benefited from an oil price slump. The Direxion Daily S&P Oil & Gas Exp. & Prod. Bear 2X offers 200% of the inverse of the performance of the S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production Select Industry Index.

ProShares UltraPro Short Russell2000 (SRTY - Free Report) – Up 19.88%

Small-cap stocks too slumped on lockdown fears and hence, SRTY gained. The ProShares UltraPro Short Russell2000 seeks to correspond triple (300%) the inverse of the daily performance of the Russell 2000 Index.

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