Wall Street offered a lukewarm performance last week. The S&P 500 added 0.34%, the Dow Jones lost 0.4% and the Nasdaq was off 0.2%. The key event of the week was President Trump’s announcement of former Fed governor Kevin Warsh’s nomination as the next Fed chair.
If he makes it through Senate confirmation, Warsh would take over when Powell's leadership term ends in May. Appointed by former Republican President George W. Bush, Warsh served as a Fed governor from 2006 to 2011 (as quoted on Yahoo Finance), a tenure that earned him the status of an inflation hawk.
An “inflation hawk” is focused on fighting inflation, even if it means keeping interest rates high. However, more recently, Warsh has promoted interest rate cuts. The move was in line with Trump’s push for lower borrowing costs.
Slump in Precious Metal Market: A Key Event
Precious metals like gold and silver plunged sharply on Jan. 30, 2026, in a pullback from this year’s and last year’s monster rally. The dollar strengthened amid the Warch nomination, which has probably played spoilsport for the commodity segment. SPDR Gold Trust GLD lost 4.7% last week while iShares Silver Trust SLV plunged 24.1%.
ETF Areas That Won Last Week
Against this backdrop, the below-mentioned exchange-traded fund (ETF) areas won last week.
Natural Gas
United States Natural Gas Fund LP UNG – Up 20.9%
United States 12 Month Natural Gas Fund LP UNL – Up 12.9%
U.S. natural gas prices continued to soar as cold weather persisted and liquefied natural gas (LNG) demand stayed firm. Flows to LNG export plants increased. The price gain came despite forecasts for milder weather and relatively lower heating demand, as well as a rebound in U.S. output from frozen wells, as quoted on Trading Economics. Overall, the weather is expected to remain colder than normal through Feb. 14, keeping natural gas prices red-hot.
Shipping
Breakwave Tanker Shipping ETF BWET – Up 19.4%
Breakwave Dry Bulk Shipping ETF BDRY – Up 11.3%
Global shipping stocks have been steady, mainly due to firm freight rates caused by the ongoing geopolitical tensions. Many companies are benefiting from increased ton-mile demand as ships take longer routes to avoid conflict zones.
Strong demand for commodities is another reason. The Baltic Exchange’s dry bulk index, which tracks rates for vessels transporting dry commodities, jumped about 7.3% to the highest since mid-December on Jan. 30, 2026, per Trading Economics.
Meta-Focused ETF
Roundhill META WeeklyPay ETF METW – Up 10.4%
The Meta META stock rose 7.7% last week, thanks to the upbeat earnings release. Revenues jumped 24% in the December quarter, driven by stronger online advertising powered by AI-enhanced targeting. Meta beat estimates on both lines in the quarter.The company also issued a first-quarter revenue forecast that comfortably beat expectations (read: ETFs in Spotlight as META Shares Rally 10% Post Q4 Earnings Beat).
Inverse Advanced Micro Devices
Direxion Daily AMD Bear 1X Shares AMDD – Up 9.1%
Advanced Micro Devices Inc AMD stock fell about 7.7% last week, amid talks of delays in its MI450-series AI accelerators and a broader tech sector sell-off. The nomination of an apparently hawkish Fed chair weighed on risk-on segments like technology. Hence, inverse AMD ETF AMDD gained last week.
Inverse Ether
ProShares Short Ether ETF SETH – Up 8.9%
Ethereum lost about 20% in price last week. The drop followed the broader crypto market profit-booking as Bitcoin's rally stalled. Bitcoin plunged 12% last week.
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Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD): Free Stock Analysis Report SPDR Gold Shares (GLD): ETF Research Reports iShares Silver Trust (SLV): ETF Research Reports United States Natural Gas ETF (UNG): ETF Research Reports Meta Platforms, Inc. (META): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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