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Wall Street offered a downbeat performance last week, with the S&P 500 losing about 1.4%, the Dow Jones retreating about 1.2%, the Nasdaq Composite plunging about 2.1%, and the Russell 2000 shedding about 0.9%.
AI Fear Trade
Fears around the likely ability of artificial intelligence (AI) to disrupt businesses continued last week and spread beyond the tech and software sectors.Several industries, including real estate services and financials, have been hit hard in recent days (read: AI Disruption Hit Multiple Sector ETFs: Is the Fear Overblown?).
Great Rotation in Focus
Wall Street started witnessing the “Great Rotation,” with investors shunning hot technology stocks in favor of smaller companies and other defensive sectors. The combination of “AI capex fatigue,” a resilient U.S. economy, and chances of a less-dovish Fed in the near term has led to the rotation in the market.
Investors have started demanding clearer returns on massive spending after two years of AI capex euphoria. Second, higher interest rates — with the 10-year Treasury yield over 4% — are pressuring long-duration growth valuations, pushing investors toward defensive and value sectors that normally fare better in higher-rate environments.
Upbeat Jobs Data
Nonfarm payrolls rose by a greater-than-expected 130,000 jobs in January, following a downwardly revised 48,000 increase in December. The U.S. unemployment rate ticked down to 4.3% in January 2026 from 4.4% in December, coming in slightly below market expectations of 4.4%, per Trading Economics. The economy added just 181,000 jobs in 2025.
Gold Price Under Pressure?
SPDR Gold Trust (GLD - Free Report) added only 0.4% last week. Resilient labor market conditions reinforce the Fed’s confidence in the economy, allowing policymakers to maintain elevated rates to tackle inflationary fears. The benchmark U.S. treasury yield fell to 4.04% on Feb. 13, 2026, from 4.22% recorded on Feb. 9, 2026. Bullion, in turn, is pressured by high interest rates due to its non-yielding nature.
Rally in Japan ETFs
On the international front, Japan ETFs deserve mention. These ETFs rallied as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s landslide election victory on Feb. 8, 2026, strengthened expectations for pro-growth policies, including fiscal stimulus, tax reforms and deregulation.
The supportive fiscal policy could accelerate corporate earnings and economic expansion. This, along with improved growth forecasts from the Bank of Japan, has boosted investor sentiment toward Japanese equities. iShares MSCI Japan ETF (EWJ - Free Report) gained about 3.9% last week (read: Japan ETFs Soar on "Takaichi Trade": Top-Performers in Focus).
Best-Performing Leveraged ETFs in Focus
Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few winning leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs) of last week.
GraniteShares 2x Long VRT Daily ETFVRTL – Up 38.2%
Vertiv HoldingsVRT shares added 20.3% last week, as the company beat on earnings and revenue estimates.
GraniteShares 2x Long RIVN Daily ETFRVNL – Up 36.5%
Rivian AutomotiveRIVN shares jumped 20.2% last week, posted a narrower-than-feared Q4 loss, and revenue beat.
BullishBLSH gained 13.7% last week. Bullish operates Bullish Exchange, a digital assets spot and derivatives exchange. Bitcoin price gained 2.4% last week. Amid the crypto market rally, Bullish stock surged.
Defiance Daily Target 2X Long VST ETFVSTL – Up 29.8%
Vistra Corp. VST shares gained 13.7% last week. The company offers electricity and power generation, distribution and transmission solutions. Electricity stocks have been in great shape lately due to AI.
Leverage Shares 2X Long NBIS Daily ETFNBIG – Up 27.4%
Nebius Group NVNBIS stock advanced about 15.7% last week. Nebius Group N.V.'s core business is Nebius, an AI-centric cloud platform built for intensive AI workloads.Nebius recently inked an agreement to acquire Tavily, a provider of agentic search capabilities. This marks a strategic step toward strengthening its AI cloud platform by integrating real-time search infrastructure.
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Best-Performing Leveraged ETFs of Last Week
Wall Street offered a downbeat performance last week, with the S&P 500 losing about 1.4%, the Dow Jones retreating about 1.2%, the Nasdaq Composite plunging about 2.1%, and the Russell 2000 shedding about 0.9%.
AI Fear Trade
Fears around the likely ability of artificial intelligence (AI) to disrupt businesses continued last week and spread beyond the tech and software sectors.Several industries, including real estate services and financials, have been hit hard in recent days (read: AI Disruption Hit Multiple Sector ETFs: Is the Fear Overblown?).
Great Rotation in Focus
Wall Street started witnessing the “Great Rotation,” with investors shunning hot technology stocks in favor of smaller companies and other defensive sectors. The combination of “AI capex fatigue,” a resilient U.S. economy, and chances of a less-dovish Fed in the near term has led to the rotation in the market.
Investors have started demanding clearer returns on massive spending after two years of AI capex euphoria. Second, higher interest rates — with the 10-year Treasury yield over 4% — are pressuring long-duration growth valuations, pushing investors toward defensive and value sectors that normally fare better in higher-rate environments.
Upbeat Jobs Data
Nonfarm payrolls rose by a greater-than-expected 130,000 jobs in January, following a downwardly revised 48,000 increase in December. The U.S. unemployment rate ticked down to 4.3% in January 2026 from 4.4% in December, coming in slightly below market expectations of 4.4%, per Trading Economics. The economy added just 181,000 jobs in 2025.
Gold Price Under Pressure?
SPDR Gold Trust (GLD - Free Report) added only 0.4% last week. Resilient labor market conditions reinforce the Fed’s confidence in the economy, allowing policymakers to maintain elevated rates to tackle inflationary fears. The benchmark U.S. treasury yield fell to 4.04% on Feb. 13, 2026, from 4.22% recorded on Feb. 9, 2026. Bullion, in turn, is pressured by high interest rates due to its non-yielding nature.
Rally in Japan ETFs
On the international front, Japan ETFs deserve mention. These ETFs rallied as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s landslide election victory on Feb. 8, 2026, strengthened expectations for pro-growth policies, including fiscal stimulus, tax reforms and deregulation.
The supportive fiscal policy could accelerate corporate earnings and economic expansion. This, along with improved growth forecasts from the Bank of Japan, has boosted investor sentiment toward Japanese equities. iShares MSCI Japan ETF (EWJ - Free Report) gained about 3.9% last week (read: Japan ETFs Soar on "Takaichi Trade": Top-Performers in Focus).
Best-Performing Leveraged ETFs in Focus
Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few winning leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs) of last week.
GraniteShares 2x Long VRT Daily ETF VRTL – Up 38.2%
Vertiv Holdings VRT shares added 20.3% last week, as the company beat on earnings and revenue estimates.
GraniteShares 2x Long RIVN Daily ETF RVNL – Up 36.5%
Rivian Automotive RIVN shares jumped 20.2% last week, posted a narrower-than-feared Q4 loss, and revenue beat.
Tradr 2X Long BLSH Daily ETF BLSX – Up 30.4%
Bullish BLSH gained 13.7% last week. Bullish operates Bullish Exchange, a digital assets spot and derivatives exchange. Bitcoin price gained 2.4% last week. Amid the crypto market rally, Bullish stock surged.
Defiance Daily Target 2X Long VST ETF VSTL – Up 29.8%
Vistra Corp. VST shares gained 13.7% last week. The company offers electricity and power generation, distribution and transmission solutions. Electricity stocks have been in great shape lately due to AI.
Leverage Shares 2X Long NBIS Daily ETF NBIG – Up 27.4%
Nebius Group NV NBIS stock advanced about 15.7% last week. Nebius Group N.V.'s core business is Nebius, an AI-centric cloud platform built for intensive AI workloads.Nebius recently inked an agreement to acquire Tavily, a provider of agentic search capabilities. This marks a strategic step toward strengthening its AI cloud platform by integrating real-time search infrastructure.