May was a month riddled with renewed banking fears, concerns over the Federal Reserve's road to future rate hikes and tensions over the U.S. debt ceiling. But despite all the turmoil and uncertainty, the VIX has sunken back down to lows not seen last November and the S&P 500 ended virtually flat for the month. But with historically one of the worst months for the stock market now upon us, can we expect a June swoon ahead? Join us on Wednesday when we'll bring you a special edition of ETF Edge live from the Piper Sandler Global Exchange Conference in New York City. We'll have Doug Cifu, CEO of Virtu Financial on with us – along with Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald.
Goldman's hedge fund ETF riding the AI boom to success. Goldman Sachs Hedge Industry VIP ETF (GVIP) has rallied 18% so far in 2023 – handily outperforming the S&P 500, thanks to three of its top holdings: Nvidia, Broadcom and Advanced Micro Devices. GVIP is rebalanced on a quarterly basis and consists of the 50 most widely held stocks among U.S. hedge funds – many of which were able to get ahead of the current AI craze.
Reversal for chip stocks in the cards? It's because of the recent runup in individual AI-related stocks and ETFs that many analysts are now predicting a short-term snapback in semiconductor stocks. Some on Wall Street are worried the boom has gone too far and are even resorting to buying leveraged funds to bet on a near-term reversal. Among the top 10 ETFs enjoying inflows over the past week, the Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bear 3x Shares ETF (SOXS) pulled in more than $400 million – despite the fund being down 70% year-to-date. Meanwhile, more than $500 million were pulled out of Direxion's Daily Semiconductor Bull 3x Shares ETF (SOXL) over that same time period.
Japan having a 'goldilocks' moment. Now may be a great time to double down on Japan, according to Credit Suisse, which recently upgraded its view to "small overweight" from underweight – citing the Japanese central bank's unique policy approach and favorable signs for economic growth. The biggest U.S. ETF that tracks Japan, the iShares MSCI Japan ETF (EWJ), has rallied 14% year-to-date vs. an 11.6% gain for the S&P 500. The JPMorgan BetaBuilders Japan ETF (BBJP), which has a lower price tag, has also matched its performance.
Single-stock ETFs exiting the stage. Half a dozen single-stock ETFs are set to close later this month, just less than a year since launching. AXS is shuttering two 2x leveraged ETFs that track Nike, two 2x leveraged ETFs that track Pfizer and one 1.5x leveraged fund that shorts PayPal stock. Typically, these leveraged and inverse funds that follow single stocks only tend to garner attention if the underlying names undergo major volatility. But even an ETF that shorts Telsa is being closed down – the GraniteShares 1x Short TSLA Daily ETF (TSLI). All six funds will cease trading on June 16.
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