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The Zacks Analyst Blog QQQ, DIA, DRAM, WGMI, EWY, DIME and BKCH

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Chicago, IL – May 12, 2026 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks and ETFs  featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include Nasdaq-100 ETF Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1 (QQQ - Free Report) ,  State Street Dow Jones Industrial Avg ETF Trust (DIA - Free Report) , Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM - Free Report) , CoinShares Bitcoin Mining ETF (WGMI - Free Report) , iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (EWY - Free Report) , CoinShares Altcoins ETF (DIME - Free Report) and Global X Blockchain ETF (BKCH - Free Report) .

Here are highlights from Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:

5 ETF Winners of Last Week

The S&P 500 recorded its sixth winning week in a row last week thanks to easing Middle East tensions and the continued AI boom. The last week marked the strong jobs report and Iran deal hopes, factors that helped the key U.S. equity gauge to add 2.4% gains last week. The tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 ETF Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1 jumped 5.4% last week. State Street SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Avg ETF Trust inched up just 0.5%.

Let’s find out the factors driving Wall Street’s risk-on sentiments.

Stability in Jobs Report

The U.S. economy added 115,000 nonfarm jobs in April, topping economists’ expectations of 55,000, though falling short of the revised 185,000 gain recorded in March. Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee described the labor market as stable rather than strong, as quoted on CNBC.

The latest data pointed to a labor market that remains resilient but continues to lose momentum compared to the rapid hiring pace seen in earlier years. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.3%.

Iran Deal Hopes

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States was expecting a response on Friday from Iran on the proposal to end the war, as quoted on CNBC. The United States was awaiting response from Iran over proposals for a ceasefire deal, per the Guardian.

Meanwhile, Kalshi traders now see a 58% chance a deal is reached by 2027, as quoted on CNBC. They also see a 47% chance an agreement is reached by September. Those levels are higher than before the Axios report, but still lower than the probability in the middle of April when there was more hope for a resolution to the conflict. In mid-April, odds that the two countries reach a nuclear deal by June were more than 70%, the same source revealed.

No Fed Rate Hike?

Markets currently expect the central bank to leave rates unchanged through the remainder of the year as inflation remains elevated and the labor market cools only gradually. Meanwhile, former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh is awaiting Senate confirmation to become the next Fed chair, per the above-said CNBC article.

Upbeat Earnings

The Q1 earnings season indicated a steadily improving earnings outlook. Estimates have moved higher for 7 of the 16 Zacks sectors since the quarter got underway. These sectors are: Tech, Energy, Basic Materials, Utilities, Industrials, Retail, and Business Services.

ETF Winners

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

Roundhill Memory ETF – Up 25.2% last week

Memory stocks continue to soar higher lately. Memory chips — crucial for smartphones, laptops and other consumer electronics — are a critical component of artificial intelligence data centers and servers.

A supply crunch and rising prices in the memory chip market are expected to continue through 2027, according to a leading semiconductor industry executive, as mentioned on CNBC(read: Tap the Super-Hot Memory Market With These ETFs).

CoinShares Bitcoin Mining ETF – Up 19.8% last week

The bitcoin mining ETF is hot this year. Investors increasingly view bitcoin mining firms not just as crypto miners, but as emerging AI infrastructure plays, as mentioned in an Investing.com article. Tech giants like Microsoft and Meta Platforms are rapidly expanding AI capacity, driving demand for power, cooling systems, land and data centers — assets many Bitcoin miners already own.

According to CoinShares analysts, publicly traded miners could derive as much as 70% of their revenue from AI businesses by the end of 2026, up from roughly 30% today. As a result, many miners are evolving into digital infrastructure companies that still mine Bitcoin, rather than pure crypto miners searching for side businesses, the same Investing.com article revealed.

iShares MSCI South Korea ETF  – Up 15.1% last week

South Korea has emerged as an economy to watch. The semiconductor sector has spearheaded the rally in South Korea’s equity market. Rising memory chip prices have been benefitting the fund, which is heavy on companies like Samsung and SK Hynix.

CoinShares Altcoins ETF  – Up 19.1% last week

Bitcoin prices gained about 12% over the past month. This is probably boosting risk appetite in other cryptocurrencies like altcoins.

Global X Blockchain ETF – Up 15.4% last week

Blockchain stocks are rallying as of early May 2026, driven by Bitcoin topping $80K mark and optimism surrounding the U.S. "Clarity Act" legislation.The U.S. Clarity Act aims to establish registration frameworks for crypto businesses, allowing them to operate legally within a defined compliance system.

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Note: Sheraz Mian heads the Zacks Equity Research department and is a well-regarded expert of aggregate earnings. He is frequently quoted in the print and electronic media and publishes the weekly Earnings Trends and Earnings Previewreports. If you want an email notification each time Sheraz publishes a new article, please click here>>>

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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance  for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

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