Image: Bigstock

Wall Street was moderately upbeat last week with the S&P 500 (0.58%), the Dow Jones (down 0.24%), the Nasdaq Composite (up 1.6%) and the Russell 2000 (up 0.7%) gaining moderately. The benchmark treasury yield jumped to 1.33% on September 3 from 1.29% on Aug 30.

Coming to the datapoints, the jobs report for August was a massive disappointment, with the economy adding only 235,000 positions, the Labor Department reported Friday. Economists surveyed by the Dow Jones projected 720,000 job gains. The unemployment rate declined to 5.2% from 5.4%, in line with estimates.

The Conference Board's measure of consumer confidence index came in at 113.8 in August (the lowest level since February), comparing unfavorably with July’s reading of 125.1. August’s reading also missed the consensus estimate of the metric declining to 124, per a Reuters’ poll. The metric continues to be below the pre-pandemic level of 132.6 in February 2020.

On the global front, after underperforming for several months, Japan stocks have gained momentum lately on hopes of a stronger government ahead of a ruling party leadership race and a general election in November. The resignation of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has opened the door for the new government, which will likely unveil an economic package to support pandemic-hit businesses and families.

As such, the move has spurred bets for strong economic recovery by the end of the year. Notably, the Japan Topix Index climbed to the highest level since April 1991 and has been outperforming its Asian peers in recent weeks. The gains were also driven by record earnings and rising vaccination rates.

Not only Japan, European stocks have been enjoying their longest winning streak since 2013. Notably, the Stoxx 600 European equity index wrapped up its seventh straight month of gain and is now less than 1% away from a record high.

Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few ETF areas that gained massively last week.

Uranium

NYMEX uranium futures traded at the highest since June 2020 on supply concerns and rising demand as governments from the United States to China acknowledge the role for nuclear power in their clean energy programs.   

Northshore Global Uranium Mining ETF (URNM - Free Report) – Up 28.3%      

Global X Uranium ETF (URA - Free Report) – Up 20.7%

Clean Energy

The environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) investing trend has remained a hot favorite among investors since the pre-outbreak period. Between 2018 and 2020, total U.S.-domiciled sustainably invested assets under management, both institutional and retail, skyrocketed 42% to $17.1 trillion, per a CNBC article

Alpha Architect ETF Trust Viridi Cleaner Energy (RIGZ - Free Report) – Up 10.1%

Robotics

Robotics is also in high demand thanks to the growing digitization. The underlying Indxx Global Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Thematic Index provides exposure to companies in developed markets that are expected to benefit from the adoption & utilization of robotics and artificial intelligence. The expense ratio of the fund is 1.32%.

Robotics Artificial Intelligence Direxion (UBOT - Free Report) – Up 9.48%

China Technology

Chinese technology stocks surged lately after many weeks of sell-off brought about by Beijing’s regulatory crackdown. Superb results reported by JD.com (JD) and Pinduoduo (PDD), as well as share buyback announcement by Tencent (TCEHY) are helping the rebound. Despite rising uncertainty, some investors have continued to pour money into these beaten down stocks and ETFs.

Moreover, Shares of Didi posted near double-digit gains last week amid a Bloomberg News report that Beijing is planning to take the disturbed ride-hailing giant under state control by acquiring a stake through government-run firms.             

KraneShares Trust CSI China Internet ETF (KWEB - Free Report) – Up 9.0%

Kraneshares Hang Seng Tech Index ETF (KTEC - Free Report) – Up 7.4%

Digital Transformation  

Everything in the world is getting digitized. Most of the sectors including energy, water utilities and real estate are becoming digitally transformed. Bitcoin prices have also recovered lately, which helped the blockchain funds.

Vaneck Digital Transformation ETF (DAPP - Free Report) – Up 7.7%

Global X Blockchain ETF (BKCH - Free Report) – Up 7.6%