Hello all - we hope your October was a nice one.
Yet again, stocks were higher on the month. The Dow rose 2.5%, the S&P 500 gained 2.3%, and the Nasdaq, which has a higher concentration of tech stocks, added a solid 4.7%.
Yet again, stocks were higher on the month. The Dow rose 2.5%, the S&P 500 gained 2.3%, and the Nasdaq, which has a higher concentration of tech stocks, added a solid 4.7%.
Here’s a look at how the markets moved this month:
Here’s a look at the performance of the various sectors in the market:
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The market is still trading in the tight range we’ve seen the last several months.
Although the market was higher, this month saw volatility hit its highest level in six months. We’ll talk more about what caused the volatility later.
This month was also unique in that we saw a day where the S&P 500 (which has 500 stocks) had 300 stocks move lower on the day, but the market still closed higher. This hasn’t happened in 35 years!
In fact, the market continues to rise while fewer and fewer stocks are higher. In a healthy environment, as markets rise, more stocks should be above their recent average. That’s not the case today. Below is a chart showing fewer stocks above their recent averages.
This can happen because big AI-related stocks keep getting bigger, so they have a larger impact on the market. Right now, the ten biggest stocks make up 41% of the S&P 500. That means 490 stocks make up 60% of the market. That’s incredible, and potentially dangerous.
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We’ll look at gold real quick, which had been a hot story as it rose very quickly to new record highs. The bubble finally deflated this month.
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What was going on with the markets this month?
The cause of the volatility earlier this month was due to concerns about the banking sector.
Think back a few years to 2023 when smaller banks like Silicon Valley Bank collapsed. Markets fell sharply on the news since they were the first banks to collapse since the 2007-08 banking crisis. This sector had been fairly quiet since then, but this month, two more regional banks collapsed. Investors decided to sell first, ask questions later and markets fell on the news.
It turns out, the problems with the two banks that failed were isolated to bad loans they made to questionable borrowers. The issue quickly faded and markets recovered.
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CORPORATE EARNINGS
With little to no economic data out from the government this month due to the shutdown, corporate earnings grabbed headlines. The results from the third quarter have been pretty solid, too. About 65% of the companies in the S&P have reported results and according to Factset, earnings are up over 10% and revenue is up almost 8%.
This gave investors confidence and markets continued their march higher.
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TARIFFS
Tariffs also grabbed headlines.
One day we’d see negative headlines like this:
Then we’d get headlines like this:
This presents an incredibly frustrating investing environment. But in the end, it looks like the issues with China have been cooled. At least for now.
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FED
The Fed held a policy meeting this month and announced another highly-anticipated rate.
Fed chief Powell seemed very reluctant to do this. He made a point to note that a rate cut at their next meeting in December may not occur. Prior to this meeting, investors thought there was a 91% chance of a rate cut in December. That number quickly fell and now stands at 70%.
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INFLATION
Inflation was one of the few data points out this month. Inflation remains an issue as it holds at its high levels.
When we look at inflation on a month-to-month basis, prices continue to rise.
When excluding energy and food from the calculation (which economists call the “core” measurement), inflation rose steadily yet again.
While the CPI data was released this month, the PPI was not. With the way things look in Washington right now, we might not get it next month, either!
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OTHER ECONOMIC DATA
Other economic data that was released this month showed a mixed picture.
While there weren’t any jobs data released, several big companies announced massive job cuts. For example, UPS announced 48,000 job cuts and Amazon announced 30,000. That’s a big deal!
With a more granular look at the economy, the manufacturing side rose slightly again, while the service side saw a surprising drop.
Consumer confidence continues to be an issue as it fell yet again.
Small business optimism turned lower, too.
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Where does the market go from here?
We hit very overbought (expensive) levels in the market late this month, so it wasn’t a surprise to see stocks sell off a little. These dips have been quickly bought, so it will be interesting to see if investors step in and buy more here. We’d like to see a bigger pullback before we got too excited.
This commentary is for informational purposes and is not investment advice, an indicator of future performance, a solicitation, an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation for any security. It should not be used as a primary basis for making investment decisions. Consider your own financial circumstances and goals carefully before investing. Past performance cannot guarantee results.
