Wall Street Enters Bear Market: ETFs That Are Near 52-Week High

Wall Street’s record bull run ended on Mar 12 as all three key U.S. equity gauges — the S&P 500, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq Composite — entered bear market territory. The three indexes lost about 9.5%, 10% and 9.4% on Mar 12, respectively, despite the Fed’s around $1.5-trillion liquidity injection into the short-term lending market.

Global markets have been shaky since the start of March but the pain aggravated on Mar 11 after WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak as a global pandemic. Meanwhile, President Trump enacted a month-long travel ban from Europe (except the United Kingdom) to contain the spread of the virus, dealing a major blow to global trade.

Investors should also note that the Dow Jones recorded the steepest single-day slump on Mar 12 since 1987. “The entry into bear market territory was the fastest on record for the S&P and Nasdaq,” as indicated by the Dow Jones Market Data Group.

With people on quarantine and activities slowly coming to a halt, recession fears are tightening its grip on markets. Oil prices too have been on a freefall, with United States Oil Fund (NYSE:USO) LP USO losing 39.5% in the past month (as of Mar 13). United States Brent Oil Fund LP (ASX:BNO) was down 41% in the same time period.

Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few ETFs that touched a 52-week high on Mar 12.

ProShares VIX Short-Term Futures ETF VIXY

The underlying S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Index measures the movements of a combination of VIX futures and is designed to track changes in the expectation for one month in the future. It charges 85 bps in fees.The product hit a 52-week high on Mar 12 and is up about 269% from its 52-week low price of $10.80/share (read: Volatility ETFs Jump as COVID-19 Spreads).

Direxion S&P 500 Bear 1X SPDN

The underlying Direxion Daily S&P 500 Bear 1X Shares seeks daily investment results of 100% of the inverse (or opposite) of the performance of the S&P 500 Index.The product is up about 34.9% from its 52-week low price of $23.25/share (read: Shorting the S&P 500 with ETFs: What You Should Know).

AdvisorShares Dorsey Wright Short ETF DWSH

This ETF is actively-managed and does not track a benchmark. It has a high expense ratio of 3.07%. It is up about 83.1% from its 52-week low price of $22.44/share (read: Don't Fear the Bear: 5 ETFs to Bet on).

Cambria Tail Risk ETF TAIL

This is also an actively-managed ETF. Its strategy offers the potential advantage of buying more puts when volatility is low and fewer puts when volatility is high. It charges 59 bps in fees. The fund has gained 30% from its 52-week low price.

AGFiQ US Market Neutral Momentum Fund MOM

The underlying Dow Jones U.S. Thematic Market Neutral Momentum Index is a long/short market neutral index that is dollar-neutral. It has a high expense ratio of 2.62%. It is up 31.2% from its 52-week low price. However, the fund has a small asset base of $1.4 million (read: Long-Short ETF (BTAL) Hits New 52-Week High).

1-3 Month T-Bill Barclays (LON:BARC) Capital SPDR (BO:BIL)

The underlying Bloomberg Barclays 1-3 Month U.S. Treasury Bill Index includes all publicly issued zero-coupon U.S. Treasury Bills that have a remaining maturity of less than 3 months and more than 1 month, are rated investment grade. It charges about 14 bps in fees. The fund is up 0.3% from its 52-week low price of $91.40/share.

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