The Week

FAS.US ended the week at $161.41, down 7.19% from the prior Friday’s close of $173.91. The S&P 500 slipped just 0.08%, leaving FAS.US about 7.11 percentage points behind the benchmark. The week leaned weak from the open at $174.83 on Monday. Prices fell through the middle of the week, touching a low of $157.57 on Wednesday (16 September), then settled into a narrow range near $161 before Friday’s close at $161.41.

Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund This Week

The underlying Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF.US) also fell, closing at $55.86 for a 2.43% weekly decline. XLF opened at $57.34 on Monday and drifted lower, with a heavier-volume drop to $55.44 on Wednesday (16 September) before stabilising near $55.80 over the following two sessions. Weekly amplitude came to 3.71%, far below FAS.US’s 10.98%, a reminder of how the 3x leverage amplifies price swings.

Leverage & Decay

XLF fell 2.43% on the week. A simple 3x calculation points to a theoretical loss of about 7.29%, while the actual move was -7.19%, a gap of +0.1%. That gap comes from daily rebalancing: the product tracks 3x the daily move of the underlying, not 3x the cumulative weekly move. With a mostly one-way decline this week, daily rebalancing costs were limited. If the market shifts into choppy, two-way trading, that accumulation of daily rebalancing drag tends to grow, and long-term returns will not simply equal 3x the underlying’s cumulative return.

Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund News

Several large financial names were in the headlines this week. Wells Fargo pointed to strong consumer and growth momentum after the asset cap was lifted. Goldman Sachs completed $11.7 billion in new private equity fundraising, while its CEO flagged an unexpected $500 million hit. Morgan Stanley cut its Q3 2026 EPS forecast for Goldman Sachs by 11% and reiterated an equalweight rating. On the payments side, Bernstein reaffirmed a buy rating on Visa, and Mastercard-related stories focused on stablecoins and fintech account adoption among SMEs. XLF fell 2.43% over the same stretch, with weekly recaps showing Citigroup down 5.08%, Goldman Sachs down 8.47%, and Wells Fargo down 4.62%.

The Week Ahead

The macro calendar picks up after the weekend. On Tuesday, 22 September, the Richmond Fed composite index lands. Wednesday, 23 September brings weekly EIA crude and Cushing inventory data. Thursday, 24 September is busier, with initial jobless claims, the current account balance, new home sales, and EIA natural gas inventories. For a 3x geared financials product like FAS.US, the focus next week is how the financial sector responds to macro data and Treasury yield moves, along with any early signals from the big banks ahead of third-quarter earnings.

In Short

This week FAS.US fell roughly three times the decline in XLF, broadly in line with its geared structure, while lagging the S&P 500 by a wide margin. The flow of sector news was mixed: Wells Fargo’s post-asset-cap optimism and Goldman’s fundraising effort were supportive, but softer Q3 FICC commentary and Morgan Stanley’s EPS cut sat alongside heavy-volume pullbacks in Citigroup and Wells Fargo. The question for next week is whether jobless claims and the direction of Treasury yields shift the tone of a financials tape that has turned defensive.

This article is generated by LongbridgeAI from market data, for information only and not investment advice.