Bull And Bear ETFs To Watch In Neck-and-Neck March

Bull and bear ETFs have shown immense potential this month as abrupt changes in sentiments have raised the appeal for these products. A bull ETF makes money in an upward market while a bear ETF gains when the market goes down. These products create a long/short position with a leveraged factor (i.e. 2x or 3x) in the underlying index through the use of swaps, options, future contracts and other financial instruments.

Wall Street is caught in a bull bear tug-of-war this month. Bears were fierce in early March on Trump’s steel and aluminum imports tariff news that spooked markets, flaring up inflation fears and threats of a trade war. Then faster-than-expected rates hike and the Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) led tech selloff continued to prompt bears (read: Tech Selloff & Fed Meeting Put These ETFs in Focus).

The last week’s selloff following Trump’s intention to impose a tariff of up to $60 billion on Chinese imports added to the woes. In response, China prepared for retaliation with a proposed list of 128 U.S. products worth $3 billion. This fear seems to have abated as both the United States and China have started negotiating to improve American access to Chinese markets. The news send the bulls roaring and resume a rally. In fact, the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones have recorded their largest one-day gain since the summer of 2015.

Additionally, the bullish long-term fundamentals, which include strong corporate earnings, optimism surrounding Trump’s tax cut policies, pick-up in growth in developed and developing economies, robust job gains, growing wages, increasing consumer spending, a recovering housing market and a record level of consumer confidence, are continuously driving the nine-year bulls (read: 9 ETFs Winners From 9-Year Bull Run).

Based on the above discussion, we have highlighted the performance of the bull and bear ETFs from the hot zones that have grabbed headlines this month.

Blue-Chip

After the worst week in two years, the Dow Jones Industrials Average logged its biggest one-day gain in about a decade on Monday trading session. Bear ETFs ProShares UltraShort Dow 30 (V:DXD) and ProShares UltraPro Short Dow30 SDOW have overtaken the bull ETFs this month. But their close race will likely continue in the coming weeks given that volatility is showing no sign of abating (read: Play These Inverse ETFs to Profit From Market Bloodbath).

Technology

The sector has performed remarkably well in early March sending the Nasdaq Composite Index to new highs. After peaking, it witnessed wild swings especially buoyed by the twin attacks of Facebook data scandal and trade war fears given its large foreign operations. As such, the bears ProShares Ultra Short Technology (V:REW) and Direxion Daily Technology Bear 3X Shares TECS are outperforming so far this month. However, the trend is likely to reverse with easing fears of trade giving bulls like ProShares Ultra Technology (BX:ROM) and Direxion Daily Technology Bull 3X Shares TECL an edge for the coming weeks (read: Is the Rout in Tech ETFs Transitory?).



Financials

The financial sector got a boost from a faster-than-expected rates hike in the first half of the month but reversed all the gains following the decline in yields due to trade war fears. As a result, bear ETFs ProShares Ultra Short Financials (AX:SKF) and Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares FAZ are leading so far this month. However, the sector is expected to gain momentum to end March as yields resumed its increase, propelling bull ETFs ProShares Ultra Financials UYG and Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (LON:FAS) higher.



Gold Mining

Although investors’ drive to safe haven assets led to a jump in gold price, a higher interest rate outlook took toll on the yellow metal. The Fed chair Jerome Powell hinted at aggressive rates hike in 2019. Acting as leveraged plays on underlying metal price, gold miners witnessed more gains or losses than their bullion cousins in a rising or declining metal market (read: 5 ETFs to Profit From Fed Activity & Guidance).

Here, ProShares Ultra Gold Miners GDXX and Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bull 3X Shares NUGT are leading with double-digit gains this month. The trend is likely to continue in the weeks ahead given the uncertainty regarding the China-U.S. trade deals and geopolitical tension. However, the rally in stock market could threaten the bulls in the coming weeks.

A Note of Caution!

While the bull and bear ETFs are highly beneficial for short-term traders, these could lead to huge losses compared to traditional funds in fluctuating or seesawing markets. Further, their performances could vary significantly from the actual performance of their underlying index over a longer period when compared to the shorter period (such as, weeks or months) due to their compounding effect.

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