Wall Street was downbeat last week, with the S&P 500 losing 1.7%, the Dow Jones shedding 2.5% and the Nasdaq slipping 2.5%. Geopolitical tensions related to Trump tariffs, the expected rise in inflation and the likelihood of a less-dovish Fed have been instrumental in pushing the U.S. market lower. Meanwhile, investors started liking Chinese stocks more due to the DeepSeek euphoria, which weighed on U.S. tech biggies (read: ETFs to Bet Big on China Amid Fund Rotation).
There was also a development related to the Defense budget. According to The Washington Post, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has proposed an 8% reduction in U.S. military spending over the next five years. If adopted, this move would be the largest effort to reduce Pentagon spending since 2013 (read: How Military Budget Cuts Could Shake Up Defense ETFs?).
Moreover, fresh U.S. economic data heightened investor fears of a slowing economy and persistent inflation. The University of Michigan consumer sentiment index fell to 64.7 in February — a nearly 10% decline — as consumers voiced inflation concerns, particularly due to possible new tariffs. The five-year inflation outlook climbed to 3.5%, the highest since 1995.
U.S. existing home sales dropped more than expected to 4.08 million units in January. The U.S. services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) dipped into contraction territory for February, per S&P Global data.
Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few winning leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs) of last week.
ETFs in Focus
SMCI-Heavy ETFs
Defiance Daily Target 2X Long SMCI ETF SMCX – Up 88.4%
GraniteShares 2x Long SMCI Daily ETF SMCL – Up 86.4%
The Super Micro Computer (SMCI) stock jumped 30.7% last week.Shares have nearly doubled in value since the start of 2025. At Supermicro’s business update last week, CEO Charles Liang said sales could reach $40 billion in 2026, driven by demand for artificial intelligence data center servers. This would represent 60% growth from the high end of the company’s 2025 revenue guidance.
Alibaba-Heavy ETF
GraniteShares 2x Long BABA Daily ETF BABX – Up 28.2%
Alibaba (BABA) stock jumped 13.6% last week.The Chinese e-commerce giant recorded its fastest pace of revenue growth in more than a year. Though it missed estimates on the earnings front, revenues came ahead of expectations.Earnings of $2.93 per ADS missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.08 but were higher than the year-ago earnings of $2.67. Revenues grew 7.6% year over year to $38.5 billion and edged past the consensus mark of $38.2 billion. The revenue growth marks the fastest pace since the September quarter of 2023 (read: Alibaba Jumps Post Q3 Earnings: ETFs to Buy).
Natural Gas-Heavy ETF
ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Natural Gas BOIL – Up 25.6%
U.S. natural gas futures rose more than 2.5% to $4.3/MMBtu, hitting a 25-month high as cold weather weighed on supply and boosted demand. Prices surged as an Arctic blast boosted heating demand while freezing oil and gas wells, disrupting production. Forecasts indicate colder-than-normal temperatures across the Lower 48 states through Feb. 22, keeping consumption high, as quoted on tradingeconomics.
Micron-Heavy ETF
Direxion Daily MU Bull 2X Shares MUU – Up 15.3%
The MU stock gained 0.4% over the last week. Micron Technology’s MU CFO, Mark Murphy, recently cautioned about a “few hundred basis points” sequential decline in gross margins for the third quarter of fiscal 2025 (ending May 31). However, two top-rated analysts downplayed the impact of the weak Q3 margin outlook, reaffirming their Buy rating on Micron stock and expressing confidence in its long-term potential, as quoted on Business Insider.com.
Want key ETF info delivered straight to your inbox?
Zacks’ free Fund Newsletter will brief you on top news and analysis, as well as top-performing ETFs, each week.
Get it free >>Micron Technology, Inc. (MU) : Free Stock Analysis Report
ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Natural Gas (BOIL): ETF Research Reports
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
