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Wall Street delivered mixed performances last week due to rising rates. While the S&P 500 (up 0.8%) and the Nasdaq (up 2.3%) managed to eke out gains, the Dow Jones (down 0.5%) and the Russell 2000 (down slumped last week. The tech rally powered by the upbeat Nvidia (NVDA - Free Report) earnings boosted the Nasdaq and favored the S&P 500.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated Friday at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium that “additional evidence of persistently above-trend growth could put further progress on inflation at risk and could warrant further tightening of monetary policy."
Powell also indicated that prices remain "too high" and the central bank has not warded off further tightening. Currently, there is an 80.5% likelihood that the Federal Reserve will maintain its benchmark interest rate within the 5.25% to 5.50% range during the upcoming September meeting, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. Markets are pricing in a 55% chance of a Fed rate hike at its early-November policy meeting (read: Time for High-Quality ETFs as Slowdown Worries Mount?).
Rate hike or not, one thing is evident from the latest Fed meetings that interest rates are likely to stay elevated for a longer period time. No rate cuts are expected in the near term. The benchmark U.S. treasury yields started the week at 4.34%, dropped to 4.19% on Aug 23 only to shoot higher to 4.25% on Aug 25. The one-year U.S. treasury yield jumped to 5.44% on Aug 25 from 5.35% recorded on Aug 23. No wonder, the broader market came under pressure.
Meanwhile, corporate earnings releases in the United States appear to be in good shape. All eyes were glued to Nvidia earnings last week to get cues of the future course AI euphoria. And Nvidia didn’t disappoint investors. The chipmaker came up with blowout earnings results and offered an upbeat outlook too. Several other tech companies like Zoom (ZM - Free Report) and Baidu (BIDU - Free Report) also impressed investors last week with earnings results (read: Zoom Gains on Upbeat Earnings & View: ETFs in Focus).
Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few of the best performing ETFs of last week.
ETFs in Focus
KraneShares Global Carbon Offset Strategy ETF ) – Up 10.8%
The race to cut back on carbon usage among global superpowers has boosted the fund. The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act includes a record $369 billion to slash carbon emissions by 40% over the next decade. Europe and China are also on the same path. EV uptake is growing. Hence, the fund that provides broad coverage of the voluntary carbon market by tracking carbon offset futures contracts, gained substantially last week.
Growing energy concerns and the increasing need for dependable and eco-friendly energy sources are also fueling the surge in uranium ETF. The ability of nuclear power to cut carbon emissions has brought it back into the public eye (read: Use Uranium ETFs to Power Your Investment Strategy).
Silver is more of an industrial metal, even though both gold and silver are regarded as safe-haven assets. With U.S. economic growth on the right track and rate hike worries creating volatility in the market, silver prices had every reason to surge.
Defiance Pure Electric Vehicle ETF ) – Up 5.6%
There has been a significant push toward more sustainable transport globally. Electric vehicle sales have surged amid this movement, and the market share of EVs is expected to grow in the coming years. Stricter fuel emission standards and the rollout of more vehicle charging stations under supportive administrations are accelerating the adoption of EVs.
Turkey's central bank made headlines on Thursday with an unexpected interest rate hike to 25%, a significant jump from the previous rate of 17.5%. This move surprised economists who had anticipated a more modest increase to around 20%. The rate hike is a clear indication that Turkey is committed to curbing inflation through proactive monetary policy measures. The move was welcomed by investors (read: Time to Buy Turkey ETF on Surprise Rate Hike?).
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Best ETFs of Last Week
Wall Street delivered mixed performances last week due to rising rates. While the S&P 500 (up 0.8%) and the Nasdaq (up 2.3%) managed to eke out gains, the Dow Jones (down 0.5%) and the Russell 2000 (down slumped last week. The tech rally powered by the upbeat Nvidia (NVDA - Free Report) earnings boosted the Nasdaq and favored the S&P 500.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated Friday at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium that “additional evidence of persistently above-trend growth could put further progress on inflation at risk and could warrant further tightening of monetary policy."
Powell also indicated that prices remain "too high" and the central bank has not warded off further tightening. Currently, there is an 80.5% likelihood that the Federal Reserve will maintain its benchmark interest rate within the 5.25% to 5.50% range during the upcoming September meeting, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. Markets are pricing in a 55% chance of a Fed rate hike at its early-November policy meeting (read: Time for High-Quality ETFs as Slowdown Worries Mount?).
Rate hike or not, one thing is evident from the latest Fed meetings that interest rates are likely to stay elevated for a longer period time. No rate cuts are expected in the near term. The benchmark U.S. treasury yields started the week at 4.34%, dropped to 4.19% on Aug 23 only to shoot higher to 4.25% on Aug 25. The one-year U.S. treasury yield jumped to 5.44% on Aug 25 from 5.35% recorded on Aug 23. No wonder, the broader market came under pressure.
Meanwhile, corporate earnings releases in the United States appear to be in good shape. All eyes were glued to Nvidia earnings last week to get cues of the future course AI euphoria. And Nvidia didn’t disappoint investors. The chipmaker came up with blowout earnings results and offered an upbeat outlook too. Several other tech companies like Zoom (ZM - Free Report) and Baidu (BIDU - Free Report) also impressed investors last week with earnings results (read: Zoom Gains on Upbeat Earnings & View: ETFs in Focus).
Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few of the best performing ETFs of last week.
ETFs in Focus
KraneShares Global Carbon Offset Strategy ETF ) – Up 10.8%
The race to cut back on carbon usage among global superpowers has boosted the fund. The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act includes a record $369 billion to slash carbon emissions by 40% over the next decade. Europe and China are also on the same path. EV uptake is growing. Hence, the fund that provides broad coverage of the voluntary carbon market by tracking carbon offset futures contracts, gained substantially last week.
Sprott Junior Uranium Miners ETF (URNJ - Free Report) ) – Up 8.2%
Growing energy concerns and the increasing need for dependable and eco-friendly energy sources are also fueling the surge in uranium ETF. The ability of nuclear power to cut carbon emissions has brought it back into the public eye (read: Use Uranium ETFs to Power Your Investment Strategy).
iShares Silver Trust (SLV - Free Report) ) – Up 6.5%
Silver is more of an industrial metal, even though both gold and silver are regarded as safe-haven assets. With U.S. economic growth on the right track and rate hike worries creating volatility in the market, silver prices had every reason to surge.
Defiance Pure Electric Vehicle ETF ) – Up 5.6%
There has been a significant push toward more sustainable transport globally. Electric vehicle sales have surged amid this movement, and the market share of EVs is expected to grow in the coming years. Stricter fuel emission standards and the rollout of more vehicle charging stations under supportive administrations are accelerating the adoption of EVs.
iShares MSCI Turkey ETF (TUR - Free Report) ) – Up 5.5%
Turkey's central bank made headlines on Thursday with an unexpected interest rate hike to 25%, a significant jump from the previous rate of 17.5%. This move surprised economists who had anticipated a more modest increase to around 20%. The rate hike is a clear indication that Turkey is committed to curbing inflation through proactive monetary policy measures. The move was welcomed by investors (read: Time to Buy Turkey ETF on Surprise Rate Hike?).