ProShares Ultra S&P500

Genesee & Wyoming’s (GWR) European carloads fell 9.1% YoY (year-over-year) in April 2017. GWR’s other-than-coal carloads fell 8.2% on a YoY basis in April 2017.

Genesee & Wyoming’s (GWR) European carloads rose to 9.0% YoY (year-over-year) in March 2017.

In the week ended April 1, 2017, Canadian Pacific reported a 6.3% rise in overall intermodal traffic.

Canadian Pacific (CP) has witnessed a steady rise in intermodal volumes for the past few weeks. In the week ended March 25, 2017, its intermodal traffic rose 13.7%.

Genesee & Wyoming’s (GWR) European carloads remained unchanged YoY (year-over-year) in February 2017.

Canadian Pacific’s (CP) intermodal volumes have been rising for the past few weeks.

Genesee & Wyoming’s (GWR) European carloads rose 11.2% YoY in January 2017.

Canadian Pacific’s (CP) intermodal volumes have been on roll for the past few weeks. It reported a 3.6% YoY rise for the week ended February 4.

Canadian Pacific’s intermodal volumes Although Canadian Pacific’s (CP) intermodal volumes have been marching forward for the past few weeks, in the week ended January 28, 2017, CP reported a fall of 7.5% in overall intermodal traffic. Intermodal data indicates that the fall was due to a drop in its international intermodal business, where volumes fell […]

Canadian Pacific’s intermodal volumes Although Canadian Pacific’s (CP) intermodal volumes have been marching forward for the past few quarters, for the week ended January 21, 2017, CP reported a fall of 2.5% in overall intermodal traffic. Intermodal data indicates that the fall was due to a drop in its international intermodal business, where volumes fell […]

Canadian Pacific’s intermodal volumes Although Canadian Pacific’s (CP) intermodal volumes have been marching forward for the past few quarters, for the week ended January 14, 2017, CP reported a fall of 4.5% in overall intermodal traffic. The intermodal data indicates that the fall was led by a drop in its international intermodal business, where volumes […]

GWR’s European carloads rose 20.3% YoY in December 2016. In the same period of 2015, GWR hauled ~72,000 railcars, as compared to ~86,000 in December 2016.

Genesee & Wyoming’s (GWR) European carloads rose marginally 0.60% in November 2016. In the same period last year, GWR hauled 99,000 railcars.

The decrease in the UK and European carloads in October was primarily due to the fall in coal and coke, mineral and stone, and intermodal carloads.

U.S. Steel Corporation (X) released its 3Q16 financial results on November 1 after the market closed, and it held its earnings conference call on November 2.

The bulls and bears have their own sets of arguments about U.S. Steel. U.S. Steel (X) and AK Steel (AKS) mainly use iron ore as a raw material.

Alcoa’s technical indicators To make market entry and exit decisions, traders and investors analyze technical indicators. Resistance and support levels are among the most commonly used technical indicators. Resistance level Support levels typically act as a floor for stock prices. As a stock approaches its support levels, more buyers emerge while selling pressure generally subsides. […]

Steel Dynamics has one of the most diversified end-market exposures compared to other steel companies.

Genesee & Wyoming’s Australian carloads declined by 13.7% in July 2016, hauling more than 15,000 railcars, as compared to over 17,000 one year previously.

Long-term investors are betting on value creation after Alcoa’s split.

Norfolk Southern’s (NSC) total intermodal traffic for the week ended May 7, 2016, fell by 3.4% to nearly 75,000 containers and trailers.

In the week ended May 7, 2016, Canadian National Railway’s (CNI) overall intermodal traffic fell by 6%.

United Parcel Service’s (UPS) Supply Chain and Freight segment includes forwarding and logistics services, UPS Freight, truckload freight brokerage, and financial services through UPS Capital.

NIKE’s revenues increased 15% to $7.4 billion. Revenues increased 18% on a currency-neutral basis.

Leveraged ETFs make extensive use of financial derivatives to amplify returns. Derivatives are inherently riskier than direct investment due to the leverage they offer. In addition to the counterparty risk that all ETFs face, leveraged funds are prone to derivative counterparty risks.

Leveraged ETFs seek to provide a certain multiple (generally 2x or 3x) of daily returns on the underlying index. The daily movements in the underlying index and subsequent changes in ETF exposure may mean the ETF manager needs to rebalance the portfolio daily.

If SPY rises 5% each on two consecutive days, SSO will rise 10% each day due to the 2x leverage achieved using derivative products and external borrowings. While the compounding works even for SPY, it’s magnified in SSO due to the 2x multiplier effect.

While traditional ETFs seek to mirror the performance of an underlying index, leveraged ETFs seek to deliver multiples of the daily returns of the benchmark index that they track. For example, the ProShares Ultra S&P500 (SSO) seeks to achieve twice the daily returns of the S&P 500, before fees and expenses.

Leveraged ETFs are inherently riskier than traditional ETFs, as they use borrowings and complex derivatives to generate a return in multiples of an benchmark index.

The reality seems to be different due to the phenomenon of compounding at play. Let’s look at the following three cases to understand how compounding works in leveraged ETFs.