Top-Performing ETF Areas of July

Wall Street was moderate in July, with SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY adding about 2.2%, SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust DIA adding about 0.1% and the Nasdaq-100-heavy ETF Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1 QQQ adding about 2.4% over the past month.

There were monster earnings from Microsoft and Meta in July. Amazon beat on Q2 earnings and revenues, but weak Q3 guidance sparked a drop in shares. However, Apple popped on earnings.

U.S. Economy Giving Mixed Signals

After a surprise contraction in the first quarter, the U.S. economy rebounded strongly in the second quarter of 2025. According to the advance estimate of the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an annualized rate of 3% between April and June. This exceeded Bloomberg economists’ forecast of 2.6% growth.

But then, U.S. jobs data came in soft at the start of August. The July jobs report revealed that nonfarm payrolls rose by just 73,000, far below the 100,000 gain expected by economists surveyed by Dow Jones.

The previous months saw steep downward revisions, with June’s growth slashed to 14,000 from 147,000 and May’s lowered to 19,000 from 125,000, highlighting a more prolonged labor market slowdown than initially believed.

Euro Zone Growth Exceeds Expectations

Economic growth in the Eurozone outperformed expectations in the last quarter, despite global trade uncertainties. This resilience may lessen the need for additional interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank (ECB) (read: Euro Zone Growth Exceeds Expectations: ETFs in Focus).

Data from Eurostat released recently showed that GDP in the 20 countries using the euro rose by 0.1% quarter on quarter. This modest growth beat forecasts, which had predicted no change. Strong performances from Spain, France and Ireland helped offset economic contractions in Germany and Italy.

U.S. New Home Sales Miss Expectations

Sales of new U.S. single-family homes rose marginally in June, as elevated mortgage rates continued to dampen housing market activity. Sales increased by just 0.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 627,000 units, falling short of economists' expectations for 650,000 units, as polled by Reuters (read: U.S. New Home Sales Miss Expectations: ETFs in Focus).

Ethereum

Invesco Galaxy Ethereum ETF QETH – Up 31.5%

21Shares Core Ethereum ETF CETH – Up 36.2%

Ethereum (ETH) skyrocketed in July, gaining more than 35% last month, as President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law. Despite tariff-related market headwinds, Ether surged in the month. The cryptocurrency recorded its best two-week performance since August 2021 in mid-July (read: Ethereum ETFs Surging Rapidly: What Lies Ahead?).

On July 17, 2025, BlackRock also filed with the SEC to add staking to its ETHA ether exchange-traded fund (ETF), which also boosted the sentiment for crypto’s second-largest coin.Ethereum continues to dominate as the leading DeFi platform, with bullish price predictions fueled by growing interest in staking, tokenization and institutional adoption. 

Shipping

Breakwave Dry Bulk Shipping ETF BDRY – Up 25.8%

The underlying Capesize 5TC Index, Panamax 4TC Index & Supramax 6TC Index measure rates for shipping dry bulk freight. Shipping stocks rebounded as tensions on key trade routes increased in July, pushing up freight rates, especially for tankers (read: Best-Performing ETF Areas of Last Week).

Chip Stocks

STKd 100% NVDA & 100% AMD ETF LAYS – Up 33.2%

NVIDIA and AMD are hot chip stocks currently. AMD is benefiting from robust Data Center and Client revenues that fully offset sluggishness in the Gaming and Embedded segments. AMD stock gained 24.5% past month.

Meanwhile, NVIDIA stock gained 9% last week. NVIDIA is benefiting from the strong growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance, accelerated computing. The growing demand for generative AI and large language models using graphics processing units (GPUs) based on NVIDIA’s Hopper and Blackwell architectures is aiding data center revenues.

Marijuana

AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF MSOS – Up 27.3%

Cannabis stocks rose in July as Trump ally Gaetz indicated that the President is in favor of backing rescheduling. The rescheduling would benefit veterans, scientific research on cannabis, and remove tax burdens for legal marijuana dispensaries.

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