Wall Street was upbeat last week, with the S&P 500 surging about 3.6%, the Dow Jones adding about 3%, the Nasdaq Composite soaring about 5.2% (helped by a rebound in semiconductor stocks) and the Russell 2000 advancing about 3.5%.
The major indexes advanced for a second straight week. All three large-cap indexes posted their strongest weekly gains since April, as quoted on CNBC. TheiShares Semiconductor ETF SOXX, meanwhile, gained more than 7% during the week.
Stocks Rally As Jobs Data Eases Rate-Hike Fears
U.S. stocks rallied Friday after a weaker-than-expected July jobs report eased concerns that the Federal Reserve may need to raise interest rates soon. Investors interpreted the labor-market weakness as giving the Fed more room to hold rates steady despite sticky inflation.
Weak Jobs Report Eases Fed Concerns
The July nonfarm payrolls report showed a decline of 23,000 jobs, sharply missing economists’ expectation for an increase of 83,000, per CNBC. The unemployment rate fell to 4.1% from 4.2%, although the labor-force participation rate dropped to its lowest level in more than five years.
Following the report, most fed funds futures traders expected the Fed to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 3.50%-3.75% at its September meeting. A day earlier, traders had been pricing in a 55% probability of a 25-basis-point rate hike, per the same CNBC source.
The weaker labor-market data helped ease concerns about rising yields and inflation, two key risks for equities. Software stocks outperformed late last week as recent earnings helped ease concerns that artificial intelligence could disrupt the industry.
Hormuz Outlook Improving?
Investors awaited a potential agreement between the United States and Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had indicated earlier in the week that a deal could be reached soon. United States Brent Oil Fund LP BNO lost 1.6% last week.
For now, improving prospects for a resolution have reduced market anxiety. However, renewed tensions or a delay in reopening the key shipping route could quickly revive concerns over oil prices, inflation and market volatility.
Best-Performing Single-Stock ETFs of Last Week
Against this backdrop, below we highlight the top-performing single-stock ETF areas of last week.
Redwire-Leveraged ETFs
T-REX 2X Long RDW Daily Target ETF RDWU – Up 148.9%
Space firm Redwire Corp RDW added 62.4% last week due to upbeat earnings. The company reported a quarterly loss of $0.09 per share versus the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $0.18 and a loss of $0.39 per share recorded a year ago. Redwire posted revenues of $117.07 million for the quarter ended June 2026, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 11.14%. This compares with year-ago revenues of $61.76 million.
AXT-Leveraged ETFs
T-REX 2X Long AXTI Daily Target ETF AXTU – Up 133.6%
Leverage Shares 2X Long AXTI Daily ETF AXTL – Up 130.8%
AXT Inc. AXTI is the manufacturer and distributor of high-performance compound semiconductor substrates. The stock surged 55.4% last week. The stock has also been gaining lately on earnings strength.
In late July, AXTreported second-quarter 2026 non-GAAP earnings of 19 cents per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 7 cents by 171.43%. The company had recorded a loss of 15 cents per share in the year-ago quarter. Revenues surged 164.8% year over year to $47.6 million and surpassed the consensus mark of $34 million by 39.41%.
Coherent-Heavy ETFs
Tradr 2X Long COHR Daily ETF COHX – Up 115.0%
Leverage Shares 2X Long COHR Daily ETF COHH – Up 115.1%
Coherent Corp COHR shares added 48.5% last week. Coherent stock surged 13.4% on Friday itself to $379.13, thanks to massive demand for AI datacenter optical components, high Wall Street price targets and favorable macroeconomic conditions.
Based on short-term price targets offered by 19 analysts, the average price target for Coherent comes to $394.00. The forecasts range from a low of $230.00 to a high of $465.00. The average price target represents an increase of 3.9% from the closing price of $379.13 recorded on Aug. 7, 2026.
Applied Optoelectronics-Heavy ETFs
Leverage Shares 2X Long AAOI Daily ETF AAOG – Up 117.9%
Tradr 2X Long AAOI Daily ETF AAOX – Up 112.9%
Applied Optoelectronics AAOI surged 50% last week, as the company reported second-quarter 2026 non-GAAP earnings of 6 cents per share against a loss of 16 cents a year ago. The metric beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 100%.
Revenues surged 86.4% year over year to $191.92 million and topped the consensus mark by 0.41%. The topline benefited from robust datacenter and CATV demand.Datacenter revenues more than doubled year over year, while 800G product revenues increased more than tenfold.
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Coherent Corp. (COHR): Free Stock Analysis Report
iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX): ETF Research Reports
AXT Inc (AXTI): Free Stock Analysis Report
Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (AAOI): Free Stock Analysis Report
United States Brent Oil ETF (BNO): ETF Research Reports
Redwire Corporation (RDW): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
Zacks Investment Research