Last week was mostly upbeat for Wall Street with the S&P 500, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq Composite adding 2.71%, 1.95% and 3.12%, respectively, and the Russell 2000 losing about 0.5%. The S&P 500 logged the largest three-week gain in more than four months.
Upbeat U.S. economic data points and the moderation in the spike in the benchmark U.S. treasury yields have led to the gains in U.S. equity indexes. On the flip side, the coronavirus infections have been rising globally.
Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few inverse/leveraged ETF areas that gained the most last week.
Inverse Energy
Rising COVID-cases have put pressure on oil demand and benefited the inverse leveraged energy ETFs.
S&P Oil & Gas Exploration Bear 3X Direxion DRIP – Up 17.83%
Microsectors -3X U.S. Big Oil Index ETN NRGD – Up 16.44%
Biotech
As indicated above, the surge in Treasury yields has moderated, rekindling investors’ interest in the growth sectors. Plus, there have been a lot of positive updates on COVID-19 vaccines. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention informed that the coronavirus vaccines developed by Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) and Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) /BioNTech SE (BNTX) decrease infections by 90% in people who have been administered with both the vaccine shots. It also has been found to prevent asymptomatic infections.
Pfizer and BioNTech SE (NASDAQ:BNTX) posted encouraging updates on to their coronavirus vaccine candidate, BNT162b2. The duo’s two-shot vaccine has been observed to deliver 100% efficiency and robust antibody responses in participants aged 12-15 years (read: Top COVID-19 Vaccine Stories of March Put Biotech ETFs in Focus).
S&P Biotech Bear 3X Direxion LABD – Up 15.59%
Technology
Tech shares rebounded last week thanks to decline in benchmark yields. The benchmark U.S. treasury yields started the week at 1.73% yield while it ended the same with 1.67% yield. This has benefited the growth sectors like technology. Moreover, rising COVID-19 cases have boosted the demand for stay-at-home technology stocks (read: ETFs to Tap the Sustained Semiconductor Boom).
Technology Bull 3X Direxion TECL – Up 14.46%
Microsectors Fang+ 3X ETN FNGU – Up 14.45%
Consumer Discretionary
A blowout jobs report, monetary and fiscal stimulus, still-low oil prices, and upbeat U.S. consumer confidence point to strength in the consumer discretionary stocks. (read: Why Fear Rising Rates? Play Cyclical ETFs).
Consumer Discretionary Bull 3X Direxion (WANT) – Up 11.96%
Gold Miners
After an awful first quarter, gold saw strength to start the second quarter as U.S. treasury yields started moderating. This, in turn, suppressed the greenback’s strength. The fact has renewed investors’ interest in the precious metal. The rising coronavirus cases have also boosted demand for this safe-haven asset to some extent (read: Gold Regains Luster: 5 Mining ETFs on the Rise).
Microsectors Gold Miners 3X ETN GDXU – Up 10.5%
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