October 30, 2009 at 12:40 pm by Tom Lydon
October was largely a mixed month for stocks and exchange traded funds (ETFs), marked by both encouraging high points and gloomy low ones.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finally crossed a milestone 10,000 points this month. Though the mark was greeted with cheers on the trading floor, it didn’t stay there for long, and ultimately closed the month below 10,000 and ended the month flat. The S&P 500 lost 2% and the Nasdaq fell 3.6%.
October was largely a month that saw a weakening dollar. This was to the benefit of commodity ETFs, including SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD), which gained 3.7% for the month. United States Oil (NYSEArca: USO) gained 8.6%.
Earnings season was a largely encouraging one. The number of better-than-expected reports outnumbered the worse-than-expected ones by a ratio of about 6:1. But there are still big concerns about consumers: spending dropped 0.5% in September. As long as consumers aren’t spending, the recovery could be long and difficult.
To view our full performance report, click here.
For full disclosure, Tom Lydon’s clients own shares of GLD.
Tags: Commodity ETFs, Dow Jones Industrial Average, Energy, ETF Performance Reports, GLD, Gold, NASDAQ, Oil, Precious Metals, S&P 500, USO
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