Tech Tops Last Week: 5 Best Leveraged ETFs

Wall Street was upbeat last week after a long period of somberness, mainly due to the Russia-Ukraine war. The S&P 500 (up 6.2% for the week) probably logged its best week since November 2020. But the real winner was the tech-heavy Nasdaq. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was up 8.2% last week, marking its best week since February 2021.

The tech rally was mainly triggered by the positive developments in China. China’s stocks and ETFs registered a massive leap on Mar 16 after the country’s state council promised to keep its stock market steady amid a rout that washed off $1.5 trillion in value over the past two sessions.

A measure of Chinese tech firms climbed by a record on that day with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. each gaining more than 23%. Alibaba (BABA) was up 39.2% last week while Baidu (BIDU) has gained about 37% past week.

Notably, China has recorded a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases last week, which resulted in lockdowns in the key manufacturing hubs. But J.P Morgan and Credit Suisse expect China’s high number of COVID-19 cases to have a minimal impact on GDP, as quoted on Reuters.

Meanwhile, the Fed hiked its benchmark interest rate last week for the first time since 2018 and hinted at six more hikes this year. But the move was anticipated and hence there was no wild reactions in the market. Meanwhile, investors are hopeful about chances of a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine as the United States too discussed the issue with China (which is apparently backing Russia) in order to bring up peace between the two countries.

““Fortunately, investor expectations for inflation over the next five years was brought down quite a bit, which, if sustained, will continue [to] be helpful for the Fed and the markets despite somewhat higher interest rates,” said John Vail, chief global strategist at Nikko Asset Management, as quoted on CNBC. All these upbeat sentiments pushed up the growth stocks.

Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few top-performing leveraged technology ETFs of last week.

ETFs in Focus

Direxion Daily CSI China Internet Index Bull 2X Shares CWEB – Up 46.1%

The underlying CSI Overseas China Internet Index includes securities primarily listed outside of China, have been listed for at least three months and meet one of the three following criteria: the company is incorporated in mainland China; the operation center for the company is in mainland China; or at least 50% of the revenue from the company is from mainland China. The fund’s expense ratio is 1.32% annually.

MicroSectors FANG Index 3X Leveraged ETN FNGU – Up 41.3%

The underlying NYSE FANG+ index includes 10 highly liquid stocks that represent a segment of the technology and consumer discretionary sectors consisting of highly-traded growth stocks of technology and tech-enabled companies.  The fund charges 95 bps in fees.

Microsectors Fang & Innovation 3X ETN BULZ – Up 22.5%

The MicroSectors FANG & Innovation 3x Leveraged ETN are linked to a three times leveraged participation in the performance of the Solactive FANG Innovation Index, compounded daily, minus the applicable fees. The underlying Solactive FANG Innovation Index tracks the stock prices of 15 large capitalization U.S. technology stocks. The fund charges 95 bps in fees.

Dow Jones Internet Bull 3X Direxion WEBL – Up 36.1%

The Direxion Daily Dow Jones Internet Bull 3X Shares seek daily investment results, before fees and expenses, of 300% of the performance of the Dow Jones Internet Composite Index, which includes only companies whose primary focus is Internet-related. The expense ratio of the fund is 1.00%.

FTSE China Bull 3X Direxion YINN – Up 33.3%

The Direxion Daily FTSE China Bull 3X Shares seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, of 300% of the performance of the FTSE China 50 Index, which consists of the 50 largest and most liquid public Chinese companies currently trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The expense ratio of YINN is 1.36% annually.

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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.