From Equity Research
Equity markets performed well in October with all eleven sectors within the S&P 500 ending in the green for the Equity markets slipped in November with nine of the eleven sectors within the S&P 500 declining for the month. Market weakness came against a backdrop of ongoing COVID-19 concerns including the appearance of the new Omicron variant as well as pressure from a more hawkish tone emerging from the Fed. Investor confidence in November weakened with the VIX index or “fear gauge” increasing sharply from the mid-teens to reach almost 30 as fears around the risks from the Omicron variant spiked. For the full month, the Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 3.7%, the S&P 500® index decreased 0.8%, and the smaller cap weighted Russell 2000® decreased 4.3%.