As 2011 comes to a close, it's a great time to look back at what happened to the stocks and ETFs that interest you. By making sure you know the gains that a fund made -- as well as the setbacks it experienced -- you can make a better decision about whether it's a smart investment for your portfolio.
Today, let's take a look at Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3x
Stats on Direxion Daily Financial Bull
Year-to-Date Return | (58.2%) |
Net Assets | $1.45 billion |
Annual Expense Ratio | 0.95% |
Turnover Ratio | 19% |
CAPS Rating (out of 5) | * |
Source: Morningstar.
What happened to the Direxion ETF this year?
For the Direxion ETF to perform well, it needed strong performance from financial stocks. This past year pretty much gave them the exact opposite.
On one hand, huge catastrophes like the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, Hurricane Irene, and other weather-related events knocked property and casualty insurers like Aflac
At the same time, big money-center banks like Bank of America
But the biggest knock against the Direxion ETF comes from its leveraged structure. Everyone should know by now that these ETFs aren't designed for long-term investors. To show that in dramatic detail, the corresponding bearish financial leveraged ETF, Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3x
If you want to bet on financials, you can do better than a leveraged ETF. Read the Motley Fool's latest special report on banking to find out which banks the smartest investors are buying now. The report is free, but it won't be there forever, so check it out today.
Click here to add Direxion Daily Financial Bull to My Watchlist, which can find all of our Foolish analysis on it and all your other stocks.