Inside Last Week's Wall Street Rally & Best-Performing ETF Areas

The S&P 500 just marked its longest winning streak since November 2004, closing higher for multiple sessions. U.S. stocks surged on Friday, marking a significant comeback for major indexes, led by a strong jobs report and a possible breakthrough in U.S.-China trade negotiations.

The S&P 500 jumped nearly 1.5%, surpassing its April 2 closing level—referred to by President Trump as “Liberation Day,” when sweeping tariffs were announced. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.4%, logging its ninth consecutive winning day. The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite also climbed roughly 1.5%.

Weekly Market Performance: All Major Indexes Climb

Friday’s rally capped off a strong week for U.S. equities. The Dow rose 3%, the S&P 500 added nearly 3%, and the Nasdaq outperformed with a 3.4% gain. Optimism over Big Tech earnings and signs of progress in trade discussions were key drivers of the weekly surge.

Job Market Beats Expectations

Markets were buoyed by a stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs report. Nonfarm payrolls rose by 177,000 in April, exceeding economists’ expectations of 138,000. The unemployment rate remained steady at 4.2%, signaling continued strength in the labor market despite recent volatility tied to tariff fears.

Hopes Rise for U.S.-China Trade Talks

Investor optimism was further fueled by news from Beijing. China’s commerce ministry indicated openness to talks, saying the "door is open" for negotiations if the U.S. agrees to scale back reciprocal tariffs. This development suggested a possible thaw in trade tensions that had rattled markets since April.

Microsoft and Meta Lead the 'Magnificent 7'

Among the tech heavyweights, Microsoft MSFT and Meta META stood out last week. Microsoft soared over 11% last week, marking its best performance since March 2023. Meta also posted its strongest week since February 2024. In contrast, Apple lagged behind, falling over 2% for the week following its quarterly results.

Apple & Amazon React to Tariff Pressures

Despite strong earnings, some tech giants felt the pressure of trade uncertainty. Apple AAPL reported a $900 million tariff headwind this quarter and cut its share buyback program by $10 billion, causing its stock to dip. Amazon AMZN posted solid earnings but offered cautious guidance, citing tariffs and trade policy as key concerns. Its shares ended the day little changed.

Winning ETF Areas of the Last Week in Focus

Against this backdrop, below we highlight the top-performing exchange-traded fund (ETF) areas of the last week.

Natural Gas – United States Natural Gas Fund LP UNG – Up 15%

U.S. natural gas prices surged last week, thanks to a drop in output and record LNG exports.  Production has fallen to a two-month low.

Taiwan – iShares MSCI Taiwan ETF EWT – Up 9.7%

The outlook for Asian markets is positive. Following gains in U.S. and European markets, Asian markets also gained. Cues of trade de-escalation have also acted positively for the Taiwan market.

Cryptocurrency – First Trust SkyBridge Crypto Industry & Digital Economy ETF CRPT – Up 7.5%

Bitcoin gained 1.6% last week on the comeback of the risk-on trade sentiment. This benefited the cryptocurrency stocks overall. 

Uranium Miners – Sprott Junior Uranium Miners ETF URNJ – Up 6.9%

The uranium demand is on the rise as AI-driven data centers fuel greater power needs. The World Nuclear Association, as quoted on Oilprice.com, projects reactor demand to increase 28% by 2030 and nearly double by 2040. Some Big Tech earnings released last week revealed that their capex on AI remains on track, which boosted the URNJ ETF (read: Is This the Perfect Time to Invest in Uranium ETFs?).

Pharma – Roundhill GLP-1 & Weight Loss ETF OZEM – Up 6.4%

Novo Nordisk NVO said the Food and Drug Administration accepted its submission of a new drug application for a Wegovy pill to treat obesity amid an intense race to get an oral weight-loss medication on the market. If approved, Wegovy would become the first oral formulation of a GLP-1 drug for chronic weight management. The NVO stock, which surged 11.4% last week, makes up about 12% of the fund OZEM.

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

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