Wall Street was moderately upbeat last week, with the S&P 500 advancing 0.5%, the Dow Jones growing 1.2% and the Nasdaq Composite inching up 0.2%. The week was quite eventful, marked by the Fed meeting, retail sales data release, and NVIDIA's NVDA GTC (GPU Technology Conference). Let’s delve a little deeper.
Inside NVIDIA GTC
NVIDIA, in fact, continued to dominate headlines last week thanks to GTC 2025, the company’s annual event in which it unveils new services, hardware, tech demos, and, most importantly, what’s next for AI.
General Motors GM and NVIDIA announced a collaboration on next-generation vehicles, factories and robots using AI, simulation, and accelerated computing. Oracle ORCL and NVIDIA announced a first-of-its-kind integration between NVIDIA’s accelerated computing and inference software with Oracle’s AI infrastructure and generative AI services.
NVIDIA is collaborating with Disney DIS and Google DeepMind to develop "Newton," a new physics engine designed to enhance Disney's next-generation robotic characters.
Fed Stays Put; Maintains Rate Cut Projection
The Federal Reserve (Fed) unanimously voted to hold interest rates steady at 4.5% for the second successive meeting, following three rate reductions in a row that began last September. The Fed maintained its two rate cut projections for this year. The decision was not as hawkish as investors feared, fueling a short-spelled stock market rally.
The Fed lowered its gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast to 1.7% from 2.1%, indicating more moderate economic activity than anticipated. However, the Fed lifted its core inflation (excluding the volatile food and energy components) projections for 2025 to 2.8% from 2.5%.
This shift in inflation projection partially reflects the expected impact of recently implemented U.S. tariffs and the resultant retaliation. The year-end unemployment rate forecast was revised upward to 4.4% from 4.3%.
Fed Chair Powell said the central bank’s forecasts for less economic growth and higher inflation in 2025 somewhat make up for each other, explaining the forecast for two rate cuts this year.
Slower-Than-Expected Retail Sales Growth in February
Retail sales increased 0.2% sequentially in February, better than the downwardly revised decline of 1.2% the prior month but below the Dow Jones estimate for a 0.6% rise, as quoted on CNBC. The so-called control group, which rules out non-core sectors and feeds directly into gross domestic product calculations, rose a better-than-expected 1%. Excluding autos, the increase was 0.3%, in line with expectations.
Leveraged ETFs In Focus
Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few winning leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs) of last week.
MicroSectors Energy 3X Leveraged ETNs WTIU – Up 21.6%
United States Oil Fund LP USO gained 1.1% last week as the Fed did not provide a hawkish outlook and U.S. fuel consumption remained strong. United States Brent Oil Fund LP BNO added about 1.2% last week.
Geopolitical developments, including U.S. strikes on Houthi rebel targets and Israeli strikes on Gaza, also led to the price gains. The United States also tightened enforcement against Iranian crude by sanctioning a Chinese refinery.
Defiance Daily Target 2x Long Uranium ETF URAX – Up 16.4%
Rising uranium prices have been aiding the mining companies. The Defiance Daily Target 2x Long Uranium ETF seeks daily leveraged investment results that are two times the daily percentage change in the share price of the Global X Uranium ETF.
ProShares Ultra MSCI Brazil Capped UBR – Up 15.1%
Brazilian stocks edged higher last week as investors welcomed Brazil’s 2025 budget approval and central bank signals. Congress passed a budget projecting a BRL 15 billion surplus, higher than prior estimates. Meanwhile, the central bank hiked rates by 100 bps for the third successive meeting but hinted at a slowdown in further hikes due to economic deceleration.
Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares FAS – Up 14.3%
Financial stocks gained last week as the yield curve steepened. The Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3x Shares seek daily investment results, before fees and expenses, of 300% of the performance of the Financial Select Sector Index.
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Get it free >>NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Oracle Corporation (ORCL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
The Walt Disney Company (DIS) : Free Stock Analysis Report
General Motors Company (GM) : Free Stock Analysis Report
United States Oil ETF (USO): ETF Research Reports
United States Brent Oil ETF (BNO): ETF Research Reports
Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (FAS): 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.
