October turned out to be the best month for stocks in four years. The S&P 500 had a gain of +8.30 percent for the month while the Dow was up +8.47 percent and the NASDAQ rose by +9.38 percent.

The best performing sectors were Materials and Energy. The Materials sector had a gain of +12.8 percent and Energy rose by +11.2 percent.

Year to date, Energy and Materials have been the worst performing sectors, so it was nice to see a little bounce in those stocks.

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Year to date, Energy is still the worst performing sector, even after the +11.2 percent gain in October — it is still down -15.0 percent, and -22.8 percent over the last 12 months. The Materials sector is down -8.0 percent year to date and -7.8 percent in the last 12 months.

The best performing sector year to date and over the last twelve months has been Consumer Discretionary with a gain of +10.1 percent YTD and +16.9 percent over the last 12 months. October was also a good month for Consumer Discretionary, with a rise of +7.9 percent.

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The next best performing sector year to date and over the last 12 months has been Information Technology. Information Technology is up +6.0 percent year to date and +9.5 percent over the last 12-month period.

Information Technology had a strong performance in October as well with a gain of +10.5 percent, making it the third best performing sector for the month.

Some commodity prices also rose in October; gold posted a gain of +2.4 percent, but is still down -5.8 percent over the last 12 months. Oil had a very small gain of about +0.85 percent, but is still down -22.94 percent year to date and a whopping -42.5 percent in the last 12 months.

The oil quote is for West Texas intermediate crude. Consumers are enjoying the drop in oil prices at the gas pump, according to the AAA the average price for a gallon of gasoline has dropped $0.80 cents in the last year and that is a relief.

October was a very good month for the stock market, and right now, November is off to a good start as well. Earnings season is well underway, and according to FactSet, as of Oct. 23, 173 S&P companies have reported, and 77 percent of those have reported earnings above the mean estimate.

We’ll see how the rest of the earnings come in over the next few weeks.

Kenneth Roberts is a Truckee-based Registered Investment Advisor. Information is at his blog at http://www.sellacalloption.com or 775-657-8065. The mention of securities should not be considered an offer to sell or solicitation to buy investments mentioned. Consult your investment professional to understand the risks and/or how the purchase or sale of these investments may be implemented to meet your investment goals. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.