In This Article:
U.S. stocks ended a volatile trading day on a high note on Friday. The S&P 500 rose 1.6%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.5%, rebounding from a NVIDIA-led NVDA sell-off on Thursday. The chipmaker’s softer-than-expected margins weighed on quarterly results and guidance that topped Wall Street estimates.
The semiconductor giant indicated that its income margins had dropped due in part to an uptick in costs around its new data center gear and larger pay packages for its growing workforce. Overall, last week was mixed-to-downbeat for Wall Street. The S&P 500 was off about 1%, the Dow Jones gained about 1%, and the Nasdaq Composite lost about 3.5%
Geopolitical Tensions Rife
Investors had to contend with escalating trade tensions after China vowed to retaliate against Trump’s latest tariff moves. The President announced an additional 10% tariff on Chinese imports set to take effect Tuesday and pledged to impose new duties on Mexico, Canada and the European Union. The prospect of an intensifying trade war added to investor anxiety.
Adding to the trade turbulence, an economic agreement between the United States and Ukraine remained unresolved after a heated exchange in the Oval Office between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The argument left negotiations in limbo, clouding the geopolitical outlook.
Meanwhile, economic data offered mixed signals. The Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, cooled to 2.6%, aligning with expectations and easing concerns about inflation. However, consumer spending fell 0.2% in January, missing forecasts of a 0.1% increase and contrasting with December’s 0.8% rise, raising concerns about slowing economic momentum.
Best-Performing Leveraged ETFs of Last Week
Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few winning exchange-traded funds (ETFs) of last week.
GraniteShares 1x Short COIN Daily ETF CONI – Up 15.7%
Coinbase Global COIN stock lost 9.8% last week, which gave this inverse ETF a boost. The GraniteShares 1x Short COIN Daily ETF seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, of -1 times the daily percentage change of the common stock of Coinbase Global Inc. The expense ratio of CONI is 1.15%. The fund yields 1.28% annually.
Direxion Daily PLTR Bear 1X Shares PLTD – Up 15.7%
The Palantir Technologies PLTR stock retreated 11.3% last week, benefiting this inverse ETF on PLTR. The Direxion Daily PLTR Bear 1X Shares seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, of 100% of the inverse of the performance of the common shares of Palantir Technologies Inc.