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The last week was all about making history for Wall Street. The S&P 500 touched the 3,000-mark for the first time in history while the Dow Jones breezed past 27,000. Fed rate cut optimism drove the rally (read: 4 Reasons That Led Dow Jones to 27,000: ETFs in Focus).
Despite a solid jobs report for the month of June and signs of truce in U.S.-China trade war, Fed chief Powell said, “uncertainties about the outlook have increased in recent months.” He indicated economic slowdown in several international economies, which has a spiral effect on the U.S. economy.
Needless to say, global markets on a broad-based basis were charged up. But some corners of the market and related ETFs posted exceptional gains.
Energy– UBS ETRACS - ProShares Daily 3x Long Crude ETN WTIU – Up 14.1%
Oil prices made a comeback of late post the OPEC deal on output extension. OPEC and Russia have decided to extend the oil production cut to 2020, in an effort to boost oil prices. To add to this, shrinking crude inventories and concerns that Tropical Storm Barry could derail crude production in the Gulf of Mexico made the space a winner. The triple leveraged crude ETN jumped 14.1% last week (read: 5 ETFs & Stocks Riding High on Oil Rebound).
Gold Miners – Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Index Bull 3X Shares JNUG – Up 9.9%
A dovish Fed, geopolitical tensions between Iran and the United States, and the central banks’ gold buying have been instrumental in boosting gold prices. The triple-leveraged gold mining ETF gained more than 9% last week (read: Grab These ETFs & Stocks on Gold Rush).
Semiconductors– Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares SOXL) – Up 8.6%
Despite renewed trade tensions in May, the United States and China agreed to resume trade talks at the G-20 summit in Japan. Trump said that no additional tariffs on billions of dollars of Chinese products will be applied for the “time being.” Such short-term truce was enough to boost the trade-sensitive semiconductor sector (read: 9 Best-Performing Leveraged ETFs of 1H19).
Homebuilders– UBS ETRACS Monthly Reset 2xLeveraged ISE Exclusively Homebuilders ETN HOML – Up 7.5%
Homebuilding stocks also rallied mainly on hopes of Fed rate cuts, which should bode well for rate-sensitive sectors like homebuilding. The fund added 7.5% last year.
Brazil– Direxion Daily MSCI Brazil Bull 3X Shares BRZU – Up 6.9%
Brazilian stocks were at a record high as the key pension reform bill “cleared a key congressional hurdle.” The bill looks to generate savings of around 1 trillion reais (US$ 264 billion) over 10 years, the upper end of most analysts’ forecasts. As a result, Brazilian stocks rallied (read: ETFs to Shine as Brazil Pension Bill Nears Final Approval).