Treasurys and high-growth technology were some of the few bright spots in Monday’s market.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average saw its worst day since October on Monday as worries over a rebound in Covid-19 cases sparked a rush out of the major indexes. Trades tied to the economic reopening such as airline and energy stocks suffered significant losses.
The selling also slammed numerous exchange-traded funds, ETF Trends and ETF Database CEO Tom Lydon said.
“Momentum, high beta, quality, small cap, everything’s being sold today,” he told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” on Monday. “It seems like they’re throwing the baby out with the bathwater.”
Longer-term Treasury bonds, specifically the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT), were one of the few things investors bought, Lydon said.
The TLT closed more than 2% higher on Monday after the yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury hit a new five-month low. Treasury bonds move inversely to their yields.
Buyers also flocked back to high-growth trades such as Cathie Wood’s Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK), which ended the day 0.6% higher.
“These reopening companies are being hit, but those Covid-type companies that did well, the Zooms of the world, the Pelotons of the world, the Cathie Wood stocks of the world, are actually holding up pretty well,” he said.
If the delta variant scare doesn’t translate to lower stock prices, investors should consider parts of the commodity trade, Lydon said.
Though the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) ETF has seen the most redemptions in the commodity space this year, other commodity ETFs up 20% to 30% this year could be worth considering, he said.
The redemption process helps keep an ETF’s trading price in line with its underlying net asset value when it is trading at a discount to its NAV.
Invesco’s Optimum Yield Diversified Commodity Strategy No K-1 ETF (PDBC), the largest commodity ETF by assets, is up nearly 25% this year.
“The Olympics are going to be a great litmus test” for the market, Lydon said. “If we can get through that without any major disruption, that will be really good.”
