Last week was moderately upbeat for Wall Street with SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) (up 2.2%), SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) (up 2.2%) and Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) (up 0.3%) returning decently and the small-cap ETF iShares Russell 2000 Index ETF (IWM) (up 5.1%) soaring.
Vaccine hopes bolstered by U.S. biotech company Moderna’s (MRNA) successful early-stage clinical trials drove risk-on trade sentiments last week and boosted stocks and sectors that are the direct beneficiaries of economic reopening. This is the reason small-cap stocks outperformed last week (read: Vaccine Hopes Boost These Sectors & ETFs).
Meanwhile, J.P. Morgan (JPM) and Goldman Sachs (GS) have come up with upbeat earnings results, giving investors another reason to rejoice. Apple has also gained as it won the EU court case over $15 billion in claimed taxes (read: Warren Buffett Bets Big on Apple: Buy These ETFs).
However, big tech stocks put up a subdued performance and weighed on the tech-heavy Nasdaq index. Technology stocks and ETFs have been the star performers this year due to the pandemic. Social distancing norms to mitigate the spread of coronavirus compelled people to stay at home, binge on online shopping and work as well as learn from home.
Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few ETFs that outperformed last week.
iPath US Treasury 5-year Bull ETN DFVL) – Up 57.3%
As U.S. treasury yields slid to the extremely low levels, and remained in the range of 0.62% to 0.64% last week, intermediate Treasury securities gained materially.
CTracks ETN MillerHoward MLP Fundamental ETN MLPC – Up 16.1%
The underlying Miller/Howard MLP Fundamental Index is a rules-based proprietary index, designed to measure the performance of 25 master limited partnerships selected by a methodology based upon quantitative fundamental factors of publicly traded MLPs. High-yielding nature of the MLP business made this security a winner.
ETFMG Treatments Testing and Advancements ETF GERM – Up 13.7%
Per the latest news, Moderna’s vaccine for COVID-19 showed it was safe and triggered immune responses in all 45 healthy volunteers in an ongoing early-stage study. Moderna had conducted two tests in May and will begin phase 3 tests with 30,000 volunteers on Jul 27. Shares of Moderna jumped, benefiting this very ETF too.
Invesco S&P SmallCap Materials ETF PSCM – Up 9.3%
Small-cap materials stocks had another reason to cheer as risk-on sentiments boosted this cyclical segment.
SPDR S&P Health Care Services ETF XHS – Up 7.1%
This fund is another beneficiary of the rapid developments and activities in the healthcare space.
Invesco Dynamic Building & Construction ETF PKB – Up 6.8%
Last week witnessed an uptick in homebuilders’ confidence for newly built, single-family homes. Confidence surged to 72 points in July from 58 in June, 37 in May and 30 in April (the lowest since June 2012).
ALPS Clean Energy ETF ACES) – Up 6.8%
The fund is designed to provide exposure to a diverse set of U.S. and Canadian companies involved in the clean energy sector. Growing consumer electric vehicle adoption as evident from the success of Tesla TSLA and increase in charging stations have acted as a tailwind for the U.S. clean energy sector for the past few quarters (read: Clean Energy Sector Shines Last Week: Top-Performing ETFs).
MicroSectors Cannabis ETN MJJ – Up 6.7%
The fund gives exposure to companies that provide products or services related to the medical or industrial use of cannabis or related products. Aphria Inc. (APHA) added about 9% past week. Notably, Stifel analyst W. Andrew Carter, rated Aphria “Buy” recently on strong balance sheet and cash flows, as quoted on Barrons.com (read: Are Marijuana Stocks & ETFs Coronavirus-Proof?).
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