Wall Street offered a mixed performance last week, with the S&P 500 gaining about 1.2%, the Dow Jones losing about 0.5%, the Nasdaq Composite adding about 1.7%, and the Russell 2000 shedding about 0.6%. Tech stocks rallied last week, offering gains to the tech-heavy Nasdaq and the S&P 500. Let’s delve a little deeper into the key developments of last week.
Rally in Tech Stocks
State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF XLK added about 2%. Weak jobs data for the month of June triggered speculation that the Fed may refrain from raising interest rates in the near term. A low-rate environment is generally favorable for growth-oriented technology stocks.
Higher interest rates increase companies' financing costs and reduce the value of their future earnings, making high-growth firms appear less attractive in a high-rate environment. Hence, the probability of lower-for-longer rates boosted tech stocks last week.
Dow Jones Tops 53,000 for the First Time
The Dow Jones Industrial Average index hit a record high of 53,000 for the first time on July 6, 2026, per CNBC. The Dow Jones index advanced 8.9% during the first six months of this year, marking its best first-half performance since 2021 (read: Dow Jones Tops 53,000 for the First Time: ETFs to Gain).
Fresh U.S.-Iran Tensions
Geopolitical tensions flared on July 8, 2026, after Kuwait accused Iran of launching fresh missile and drone attacks, a day after the United States carried out retaliatory strikes against Iranian military targets, as quoted on CNBC. The U.S. Central Command said it struck more than 80 Iranian targets.
Washington said the operation was in response to Iran's attacks on three commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, calling the incidents a violation of the existing ceasefire. The scenario put the ceasefire under pressure. Oil prices rallied once again due to the renewed crisis. United States Brent Oil Fund LP BNO added about 5.4% last week.
SK Hynix Surges in Blockbuster U.S. Market Debut
The South Korean memory-chip giant SK Hynix (SKHYV) made a strong entrance on U.S. exchanges, with its shares jumping about 13% on the first day of trading, as quoted on Yahoo Finance. The stock climbed to $168 after pricing its American depositary receipts (ADRs) at $149 apiece.
The company raised approximately $26.5 billion through the offering, making it the largest U.S. IPO ever by a foreign company, according to Bloomberg data, as mentioned on Yahoo Finance. Shares were up about 2.5% after hours on July 10, 2026.
Best-Performing Leveraged ETFs of the Week
Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few winning leveraged ETF (exchange-traded fund) areas from last week.
Defiance Daily Target 2x Short RKLB ETF RKLZ – Up 45.1% Last Week
Rocket Lab Corp RKLB shares slumped about 19% last week, which is why the inverse leveraged Rocket Lab ETF surged. Its competitor Space Exploration Technologies Corp. SPCX also slumped 12.4%. Investors may be punishing the stocks that are guilty of overvaluation.
Also, on June 29, Rocket Lab announced its largest transaction ever — an $8 billion cash-and-stock deal to buy Iridium Communications.The market is pricing in the enormous execution risk associated with the space sector.
Direxion Daily BABA Bull 2X ETF BABU – Up 32.2%
Alibaba BABA stock rose 15% last week. Alibaba's rally was fueled primarily by a bullish note from UBS. UBS analyst Kenneth Fong said the company likely delivered margin-expanding revenue growth in the June quarter, driven by about 45% growth in its cloud business, as quoted on a Motley Fool article.
Jefferies added that macroeconomic challenges and weak consumer sentiment are already reflected in the stock price, as mentioned in the same article. Based on short-term price targets offered by 22 analysts, the average price target for Alibaba comes to $185.78. The forecasts range from a low of $145.00 to a high of $220.10. The average price target represents an increase of 65.4% from the last closing price of $112.33.
Leverage Shares 2X Long HPE Daily ETF HPEL – Up 28.4%
Hewlett Packard Enterprise HPE shares gained 16.2% last week. The stock is benefiting from a record backlog and a booming AI server business. Based on short-term price targets offered by 17 analysts, the average price target for Hewlett Packard Enterprise comes to $68.65, up 41.4% from the last closing price of $48.54. This explains why the stock and its leveraged ETF surged last week.
Defiance Daily Target 2X Long WYFI ETF WYFL – Up 20.7%
WhiteFiber Inc. WYFI — provider of artificial intelligence infrastructure solutions — shares advanced 20.3% last week. Shares have been surging due to the company's aggressive expansion into AI infrastructure and massive data center contracts.
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State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK): ETF Research Reports
Alibaba Group Holding Limited (BABA): Free Stock Analysis Report
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (HPE): Free Stock Analysis Report
United States Brent Oil ETF (BNO): ETF Research Reports
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SPCX): Free Stock Analysis Report
Rocket Lab Corporation (RKLB): Free Stock Analysis Report
WhiteFiber, Inc. (WYFI): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).