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Tech Sizzled Last Week: Top-Performing ETFs in the Sector

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Key Takeaways

  • Tech stocks fueled Wall Street's last-week rally, with the Nasdaq jumping 6.7% and Tesla surging 23.8%.
  • Semiconductor stocks staged a sharp rebound as easing trade tensions lifted the beaten-down space.
  • If trade tiffs ease, tech should gain the most. TESL, XSD, QTEC & IYW offered double-digit returns last week.

Wall Street was charged-up last week, thanks to the tech rally. The major averages rose last week, recording their second positive week out of three. The S&P 500 gained 4.6%, the Dow Jones added 2.5%, the Nasdaq jumped 6.7% and the Russell 2000 advanced 4.1% last week (as of April 25, 2025).

Despite this week's rally, April has been mixed overall. The Nasdaq is now slightly positive for the month, but the S&P 500 remains down 1.5% month to date, and the Dow has fallen 4.5%.

Tech Giants Lead the Rally

Big tech stocks were a major catalyst on April 25. Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) gained 1.7% after the Google parent reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings on both revenues and profits. Tesla (TSLA - Free Report) surged 9.8%, while NVIDIA (NVDA - Free Report) and Meta Platforms META also posted strong advances of 4.3% and 2.7%, respectively.

Tesla shares jumped on April 25, extending their recent rally after CEO Elon Musk said he would spend more of his time focusing on Tesla, as the Trump administration is on its way to loosening rules around self-driving cars.

The latest administrative move would favor Tesla, which has long promoted autonomous vehicles as key to its growth strategy. Tesla now expects to be selling fully autonomous rides in Austin, Texas, in June, with that business expanding to other cities this year and becoming financially material in the second half of 2026. 

For the week, Tesla surged 23.8%, Netflix (NFLX - Free Report) jumped 11.9%, Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) gained 11.6%, Apple (AAPL - Free Report) added 8.4%, Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) advanced 8%, Meta surged 11.5%, and NVIDIA leaped 12.5%.

Semiconductor stocks staged a massive surge last week as the space had been beaten down heavily. After Trump’s announcement of tariffs, chip biggies sank massively. Now, the cues of easing trade tensions have given the space a special edge at the time of revival.

Future Outlook: Mixed

Meanwhile, market volatility has remained elevated. Uncertainty surrounds U.S.-China trade talks after China said on April 24 that there were no negotiations underway, following earlier U.S. signals suggesting a possible softening in stance.

Despite the uncertainty around tariffs and trade, Citi analysts are growing more optimistic about the market's trajectory, the CNBC article noted. Citi believes that as long as the momentum in trade negotiations remains positive and monetary policy becomes more supportive, equities should continue to stabilize and grind higher in the coming months. Possible trade de-escalation and easy money are great for tech stocks.

Top-Performing Technology ETFs in Focus

Against this backdrop, below we highlight some winning tech-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs) of the last week.

Simplify Volt TSLA Revolution ETF TESL – Up 23.7%

SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD - Free Report) – Up 15.2%

iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX - Free Report) – Up 13.2%

First Trust NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index Fund QTEC – Up 11.3%

iShares US Technology ETF (IYW - Free Report) – Up 10.2%

First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund (FDN - Free Report) – Up 9.4%

Invesco S&P SmallCap Information Tech ETF (PSCT - Free Report) – Up 9.2%

 

 

 

 


 

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