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U.S. markets are swinging so fast and wild that investors are finding it hard to cope with some crazy market movements not seen in the last four years. A hard landing fear in China was the actual culprit this time around, with ambiguity over the Fed lift-off this month being a partner in crime.

Maddening economic issues in China took the global market in its grip, leading to a bloodbath in the last one month. Back-to-back blows, be it currency devaluation or a six-and-half-year low manufacturing data for August, stoked this panic-induced sell-off globally. Even the otherwise steadier U.S. stocks were also not spared. China itself wiped off all its gains recorded this year before feeling a nudge lately.

Thanks to this massacre, the U.S. stocks futures saw their largest weekly declines since 2011 in the week ended August 21. The S&P 500 index fell 12.5% from its May high while the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted about 14.6% from its prior high hit in May. In the recent panic attack, investors extracted $10 billion from the big the S&P 500-based ETFs in the three days through September 8, 2015, as per Bloomberg. The largest SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) lost over 6% in the last one month.

Oil prices, which have now become a household topic for its relentless slide, too had a horrendous ride during this tumultuous phase. In such a backdrop, China had to step in to soothe jittery nerves. Its central bank slashed the key rates, proposed dividend tax cuts for long-term investors, assured global markets that the China market crash is ‘almost over’ aided by government intervention and plans to launch “circuit breaker” on one of the country’s benchmark stock indexes (read: Correction Seems Over: Time for China ETFs?).

Any Scope for Momentum Plays? 

Investors should note that the September Fed rate lift-off seems a bit dicey as China-driven issues will control global events in the next few days. Still, markets have bounced back several times even in this terribly volatile phase (read: 6 Exceptional ETFs Up Over 15% YTD).

This occasional snap-back is not unexpected either, as all three key U.S. indices, the S&P 500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq went into the correction territory recently leading to a steep decline in the price of several stocks, which became lucrative bets for bargain hunters.

In the end, the U.S. economy appears to be the lone star in a tottering global backdrop. This fact, along with compelling valuation brings about bright opportunities for some U.S.-based momentum stocks and ETFs in the coming days, especially in a market rebound.

Yesterday was such a day, when global stocks heaved a sigh of relief in the absence of any major bad news. For the top ETFs, investors saw SPY and SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA) each gain over 0.5% and PowerShares QQQ (QQQ) move higher by 1.1%.

This set the stage for a bullish investing backdrop in the U.S. After all, no storm lasts forever.  Thus, momentum investing might be an intriguing idea for those seeking higher returns in a short spell. Momentum investing looks to reflect profits from buying stocks which are sizzling on the market (read: Beat the Market with Momentum ETFs).

Below we highlight two momentum ETFs which could be in watch in the coming trading sessions. Notably, these ETFs beat SPY in the last 10 days and in the year-to-date frame. Notably, SPY is off over 4.7% this year but ticked up 0.7% in the last 10 trading sessions.

iShares MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF (MTUM)

This ETF seeks to track the performance of large- and mid-cap U.S. stocks exhibiting relatively higher momentum characteristics. The fund has attracted about $844 million is assets so far. With an expense ratio of just 15 basis points, this is one of the cheapest options in the high momentum ETFs space.

The ETF is tilted toward the Consumer Discretionary and Health Care sectors. Each of these takes around 30% of the basket. The next two spots are occupied by Consumer Staples and IT, each with around 14% share. Amazon is currently the top holding of the fund, with Walt Disney, CVS Health Corp, Apple and United Health Group Inc rounding out the top five. MTUM was up 1.2% in the last 10 days (as of September 10, 2015) and is up 2.5% so far this year.


First Trust Dorsey Wright Focus 5 ETF (FV)

This ETF hovers around technical indicators such as relative strength. The fund is designed to indentify the five First Trust sectors and industry-based ETFs that are arguably expected to have the maximum chance of outperforming the other ETFs in the selection universe. Securities with high relative strength scores (strong momentum) are given higher weights (read: 5 ETFs for a Retirement Portfolio).

Currently, the fund has the highest exposure to the ETF following Biotech, Health Care and Internet industries. The fund has already managed to attract more than $4.22 billion in assets. It is a slightly expensive choice thanks to its “enhanced indexing” approach, with an expense ratio of 94 basis points. The fund is off 0.4% year to date but added 1.7% in the last 10 days.

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