Wall Street was upbeat last week, fueled by Nvidia's stellar earnings report. The S&P 500 added 1.7%, the Dow Jones advanced 1.3% and the Nasdaq gained 1.4% last week. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones hit fresh records while the Nasdaq Composite ended Friday down slightly, marking a pause in the market's meteoric rise.

Nvidia's Meteoric Rise

Nvidia's remarkable earnings propelled it toward becoming the first semiconductor company to reach a $2 trillion valuation. With a market capitalization nearing this milestone, Nvidia solidifies its position as a leader in AI-related stocks, benefiting immensely from the market's enthusiasm for artificial intelligence technologies.

Market Sentiment on Interest Rates

Investor sentiment regarding US interest rates has shifted, with previous expectations for multiple rate cuts in 2024 now being tempered. Following new inflation data and cautious remarks from Federal Reserve officials, market projections have been revised downwards, now aligning more closely with the Fed's forecasts.

Goldman Sachs Adjusts Rate Cut Predictions

Goldman Sachs has revised its projections, now anticipating four interest rate cuts in 2024 instead of its previous estimate of five. The firm now expects the first rate cut to occur in June, citing recent comments from Fed officials and the minutes of the January FOMC meeting as influencing factors in their decision-making process, per a Yahoo Finance article.

Winning ETF Areas

Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few winning ETF areas of last week.

Dry Bulk Shipping ETF (BDRY Quick QuoteBDRY - Free Report) – Up 11.8%

It is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) designed to reflect the daily price movements of the near-dated dry bulk freight futures. BDRY offers investors unlevered exposure to dry bulk freight without the need for a futures account.

Shipping companies have been the best performing stocks lately, as the re-routing of vessels following attacks in the Red Sea boosted freight rates. Shippers have avoided the region due to attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea since mid-November.

Roundhill Cannabis ETF (WEED Quick QuoteWEED - Free Report) – Up 6.8%

Cannabis stocks rose last week as Germany takes a huge step toward the broad legalization in Europe. Germany could become the largest country in Europe to legalize cannabis in 2024. German lawmakers on Friday approved a government plan to liberalize rules on cannabis, paving the way for the country to decriminalize limited amounts of marijuana and allow members of “cannabis clubs” to buy it for recreational purposes, and the move would take effect from April 1.

First Trust China AlphaDEX Fund (FCA Quick QuoteFCA - Free Report) – Up 6.5%

China ETFs have been gaining due to easy money policy. In January, China said that Starting Feb. 5, the People’s Bank of China will allow banks to hold smaller cash reserves, as quoted on CNBC. Cutting the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) by 50 basis points will likely to release 1 trillion yuan ($139.8 billion) in long-term capital (read: Will China ETFs Rebound in Year of Dragon?).

iShares MSCI Poland ETF (EPOL Quick QuoteEPOL - Free Report) – Up 5.7%

Poland’s new finance minister looks to charge up its faltering stock market by spurring investment in energy transition and encouraging state-owned companies to pay more in dividends. Notably, Poland’s stock exchange, the biggest in central and eastern Europe, has seen more firms leave the market than debut on it since 2017.

(Disclaimer: This article has been written with the assistance of Generative AI. However, the author has reviewed, revised, supplemented, and rewritten parts of this content to ensure its originality and the precision of the incorporated information.)