Wall Street had a moderately strong July with the S&P 500 adding about 1% past month, the Dow Jones gaining 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite advancing 0.2%. However, the Russell 2000 lost about 3.5%.

The spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19 made investors jittery in the month, but a host of upbeat corporate earnings and the Fed’s indication of keeping the policy easy in the near term kept investors’ optimism intact (read: Fed Less Likely to Taper Soon on Delta Concerns: ETFs to Buy).

In fact, the three major U.S. indices hit new peaks on strong earnings. Aggregate total quarterly earnings are on track to reach a new all-time record and impressive momentum on the revenue side (read: 5 Sector ETFs That Crushed the Market in July).

There have been some upbeat economic datapoints too. U.S. consumer confidence rose for the sixth months in a row in July to a fresh pandemic high as Americans grew more optimistic about current business and labor market conditions. The job market has been decent.

Although home prices are rising, existing home sales increased 1.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.86 million units last month, slightly missing economists’ forecast of a rise to a rate of 5.90 million units in June (read: Pain or Gain Ahead for Homebuilding ETFs?).

ETFs in Focus

Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few ETFs that delivered an all-star performance in July.

Vaneck Rare Earth Strategic Metals ETF (REMX Quick QuoteREMX - Free Report) ) – Up 29.76%

Rare earth metals are beneficiaries of a transformation to new technologies such as electric vehicles. About 27% of rare metals are used in the production of neomagnets, which are the essential components in electric vehicles (EVs). 

iPatha.B Coffee Subindex TR ETN ) – Up 23.11%

The price of coffee beans shot up due to a July 20 frost in Brazil (a key coffee grower) that ruined crops and resulted in subsequent price rise.          

Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF (LIT Quick QuoteLIT - Free Report) ) – Up 14.93%

Lithium is another beneficiary of a resurgence in electric vehicles. The metal prices have been soaring on the back of heavy demand for lithium batteries, which are used in electric vehicles.

iPatha.B Tin Subindex TR ETN ) – Up 11.93%

Tin prices hit a record in July due to supply concerns in the major producer Myanmar. The world's third largest tin producer, Myanmar, is striving hard to contain rising cases of COVID-19 and a political crisis. Rwanda, another key producer of tin, has asked its businesses to reduce staffing by 50%, dampening mining activities. Shipping logistical issues have also boosted tin prices, per a source.

iPatha.B Softs Subindex TR ETN ) – Up 11.8%

Agricultural commodity prices have jumped since last year due to a rise in Chinese imports and tightening inventories. Rising inflation is also helping agricultural commodity prices.

iPath.B Natural Gas Subindex ETN ) – Up 11.2%

Warmer-than-normal weather forecast in most of the United States boosted cooling demand. As a result, the demand for natural gas brightened up (read: 4 Best ETF Areas of Last Week).        

Simplify Volt Cloud and Cybersecurity Disruption ) – Up 7.7%

This product is designed to concentrate on those few disruptive companies that are poised to dominate the new era of cloud and cybersecurity. With COVID-19 cases rising, the demand for technologies like cloud and cybersecurity that support the stay-at-home trend has gone up.