Investors added about $3.8 billion to the Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X ETF (SOXL) this week as it lost nearly 21%, Bloomberg News reported, showing that money continued to enter a leveraged fund during a sharp sector downturn.
Bloomberg News said the fund’s current pace pointed to a weekly inflow larger than any it had recorded before. SOXL had about $19 billion in assets, the outlet reported. It targets daily exposure equal to three times the semiconductor sector’s move. The inflow figure measures money entering the fund, while the nearly 21% decline describes its performance over the period.
Separate flow data compiled by Bloomberg showed the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) received more than $430 million across three trading sessions. SMH had about $72 billion in assets, according to the report. The SOXL and SMH figures cover a week and three sessions, respectively, rather than identical periods. Both ETFs recorded inflows while SOXL and the broader index declined.
Bloomberg News reported that the index was down 12% across its latest six-session stretch. Bloomberg put chip stocks’ lost market value at about $1 trillion during that decline, while Reuters reported a $1.64 trillion loss over the same six-session span. The outlets published separate estimates, and their reports did not explain the gap.
Bloomberg linked pressure on chip shares to questions about AI budgets and global competition. Bloomberg said valuation concerns and rising rates were adding to volatility. Those pressures coincided with money flowing into both ETFs even as the index and SOXL declined.
Bloomberg said the latest sector declines echoed earlier drops this year. It also reported that retail investors had been buying shares after declines in expectation of rebounds. The latest fund inflows came amid that reported interest in buying during market setbacks.
