5 ETF Areas That Held Steady In Friday's Bloodbath

On Oct 10, 2025, Wall Street saw about $2 trillion in market value wiped out thanks to a single Truth Social post from President Donald Trump, as quoted on CNBC. The S&P 500 tumbled 2.7%, its sharpest drop since April. The Nasdaq Composite, heavily weighted toward China-exposed tech firms, nosedived 3.56%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 1.9% and the Russell 2000 slumped 3%. Prior to the post, Wall Street was behaving pretty strong.

What Caused the Market Bloodbath

On Friday morning, Trump accused China of being “very hostile” due to its rare earth monopoly. More importantly, he warned that the United States was “calculating a massive increase of tariffs on Chinese products,” as mentioned on the same CNBC article. That single line made the market go topsy-turvy, erasing gains massively.

Why It Hit So Hard

Wall Street went into a complacent mode with respect to tariff tensions. Investors had grown confident that trade tensions were easing. Market behavior was also cushioned by exemptions on key goods like Apple’s iPhones, the CNBC article noted.

The sudden threat of new, broader tariffs reignited fears of a deeper U.S.-- China trade war, hurting risk-on assets considerably. Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few winning ETF areas that held steady in Friday’s bloodbath.

Winning ETF Areas of Friday

Silver

The Physical Silver ETF SIVR advanced 1.4% on Friday. Silver prices have been rising due to tightening supply, rising industrial use, and strong ETF inflows. Demand from solar, EVs, and 5G continues to grow, while the ongoing Fed rate cuts and the likelihood of a weaker dollar may offer further support.

Defensive

The Active Bear ETF HDGE and Cambria Tail Risk ETF TAIL advanced about 3.1% and 2%, respectively, on Friday.

As Friday saw a slump in the market due to trade tensions, investors turned defensive. As a result, ETFs like HDGE and TAIL surged.

Uranium

Sprott Junior Uranium Miners ETF URNJ and Global X Uranium ETF URA advanced about 0.8% and 0.7%, respectively, on Oct. 10, 2025.

The World Nuclear Association expects uranium demand to rise 28% by 2030, while supply faces pressure after Cameco cut its annual output forecast by 19% due to delays at its McArthur mine in Saskatchewan, per Trading Economics. The drive for energy security, the massive demand for energy in order to keep the AI boom charged up and de-carbonization goals have led to the rally in uranium prices.

Muni Bonds

National Amt-Free Municipal Bond Invesco ETF PZA andFranklin Liberty Municipal Bond ETF FLMB added about 0.3% each on Friday.

The ongoing Fed rate cutting cycle has proven to be a strong tailwind for the muni bond space. Recent SALT deduction legislation is another plus. Wealthy individuals in high-tax states like New York and California will be able to deduct more of their state/local taxes amid the raised SALT deduction cap. Note that FLMB puts 31% of its assets in California munis whereas PZA puts 22.1% in New York and 15.84% in California.

Vietnam

The Vaneck Vietnam ETF VNM advanced about 1.2% on Friday. FTSE Russell has announced its decision to upgrade Vietnam from a “frontier” to a “secondary emerging” market. The reclassification is set to take effect on Sept. 21, 2026, pending an interim review in March. The government looks to fulfill FTSE Russell's full criteria this year and achieve MSCI emerging market status by 2030, per scanx.trade.

Vietnam’s stock market is likely to experience a surge in initial public offerings (IPOs), with projections of inflows of up to $47 billion over the next three years (quoted on vietnamplus.vn).

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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