Wall Street delivered mixed performance last week. The S&P 500 posted third successive winning week. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite surged to new all-time highs on Friday, supported by slightly better-than-expected November jobs data.
For the week, the S&P 500 gained 0.96%, marking its third consecutive weekly increase. The Nasdaq outperformed, rising 3.34% over the same period. Meanwhile, the Dow lagged, slipping 0.6%.
Inside November Jobs Report
The Labor Department reported a 227,000 increase in nonfarm payrolls for November, exceeding the Dow Jones estimate of 214,000. This marked a significant improvement from October’s upwardly revised 36,000 jobs. The unemployment rate edged up slightly to 4.2%, aligning with expectations.
Bitcoin Tops $100K Mark
After flirting with the $100K mark for the past couple of weeks, Bitcoin finally crossed the historic milestone for the first time last week, driven by optimism for a cryptocurrency-friendly regulatory environment under President-elect Donald Trump.
Growing institutional interest, the launch of ETFs and option trading approval also led to a solid run. The world's largest cryptocurrency is up more than 125% this year and more than 30% since the election (read: Bitcoin Tops $100K Mark: Will Its ETFs Drive the Next Boom?).
Fed Rate Cut Speculation Intensifies
Traders grew more confident in a 25 basis-point rate cut at the Federal Reserve's upcoming meeting, with CME Group’s FedWatch Tool reflecting an 80%+ probability. Portfolio manager Luke O’Neill noted that while the labor market remains solid, its softening offers the Fed "air cover" for easing monetary policy, as quoted on CNBC.
Despite the rate cut expectations, Fed Chair Jerome Powell has emphasized that the central bank is not in a rush to lower rates, citing the resilience of the U.S. economy. Meanwhile, the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield fell to 4.15% on December 6, 2024, down from 4.19% at the start of the week and 4.23% at midweek.
Winning ETFs of Last Week
Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few top-performing exchange-traded funds (ETF) of the last week.
Simplify Volt TSLA Revolution ETF VCAR – Up 14.6%
The ETF VCAR puts 60% exposure to Direxion Daily TSLA Bull 2X Shares TSLL. This Tesla bull ETF TSLL was up 21.3% last week, making the fund VCAR is nice pick.
VanEck Ethereum ETF ETHV – Up 13.3%
Investors’ interests for Ethereum ETFs surged as evident from the rally noticed in most Ether ETFs last week.
ARK Next Generation Internet ETF ARKW – Up 9.6%
The ARK Next Generation Internet ETF is an actively managed ETF that seeks long-term growth of capital by investing under normal circumstances primarily in domestic and U.S. exchange traded foreign equity securities of companies that are relevant to the theme of next generation internet. The ETF charges 87 bps in fees.
First Trust SkyBridge Crypto Industry & Digital Economy ETF CRPT – Up 9.0%
The First Trust SkyBridge Crypto Industry and Digital Economy ETF seeks to provide investors with capital appreciation. Coinbase Global (17.83%), Galaxy Digital Holdings (14%) and MARA Holdings (12.2%) are the top three holdings of the fund.
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