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5 Best Inverse/Leveraged ETF Areas of Last Week

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Last week was upbeat for Wall Street. The S&P 500, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq gained about 0.94%, 0.78% and 1.11% last week. Stocks basically ignored myriad of concerns including inflationary pressures and rising Delta variant of COVID-19 cases and continued rallying. However, tech stocks specifically surged probably due to the fact that COVID environment boosts the demand for stay-at-home stocks which are largely dependent on technology (read: S&P 500 to Roar Higher: ETFs to Ride the Rally).

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

ETFs in Focus

Regional Banks Bull 3X Direxion (DPST - Free Report) – Up 15.1%

U.S. Treasury yields jumped higher as the Labor Department’s jobs report came out better than expected. The benchmark U.S. treasury yield jumped t0 1.31% on Aug 6, 2021 versus 1.20% recorded on Aug 2. Since bank stocks fare better in a rising rate environment, bank ETFs gained materially last week (read: Banking Earnings Decent: Time to Buy Financial ETFs on Value?).

Microsectors Gold Miners -3X ETN (GDXD - Free Report) – Up 14.1%

Gold prices were hammered last week due to stock rally and a rising greenback that weighed on the gold prices. This impacted the gold mining stocks too. As a result, the inverse leveraged gold mining stocks gained last week.

Ultrashort Bloomberg Crude Oil ETF (SCO - Free Report) – Up 11.5%

Oil prices logged biggest weekly decline in four months for Brent and in nine months for WTI, per a Reuters article. Worries that travel restrictions to curb the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19 may weigh on global growth hurt oil prices as it stroked demand concerns. Crude futures also suffered as the U.S. dollar strengthened after U.S. job growth for July came in higher than expected.  

S&P Biotech Bull 3X Direxion (LABU - Free Report) – Up 9.1%

The Q2 earnings picture of the healthcare sector seems solid with results from the companies reported so far are up 17.7% on 20.3% revenue growth. There has been demand for COVID-19 vaccines. Sanofi has agreed to acquire U.S. biotech company mRNA developer Translate Bio in a $3.2 billion deal. Moderna has entered the S&P 500. This is because "Since COVID, mRNA vaccines have made a big impact on the future of vaccine R&D and the most obvious target for next-generation mRNA vaccines is influenza," as quoted on a Reuters article (read: Sanofi to Buy mRNA Developer: ETFs in Focus).

Utilities Bull 3X Direxion (UTSL - Free Report) – Up 7.0%

Utilities stocks gained too last week.According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the country's electricity consumption fell 3.9% in 2020. Consumption may rise this year due to greater economic activities. This will boost electric utilities stocks while water utilities stocks too are on fire due to high demand for water stocks.

Latest infrastructure bill talks have also been instrumental in aiding utilities ETFs.The Senate’s move of introducing the bipartisan infrastructure bill of $550 billion on Aug 1 in addition to the previously-approved funds of $450 billion for five years has brought some optimism among investors. Total spending may go up to $1.2 trillion if the plan is extended to eight years. The Senate’s move of introducing the bipartisan infrastructure bill of $550 billion on Aug 1 in addition to the previously-approved funds of $450 billion for five years has brought some optimism among investors. Total spending may go up to $1.2 trillion if the plan is extended to eight years(read: ETFs to Win on Latest Infrastructure Bill Talks).

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