Investors finally got a good month in the S&P 500. And some traders really maximized their gains.So mad at you, took a look at this,https:\/\/imasdk.googleapis.com\/js\/core\/bridge3.546.0_en.html#goog_2445758350 of 15 secondsVolume 0% <\/p>\n\n\n\n
All told, had you invested $10,000 in January and reinvested your money into the top stock currently in the S&P 500<\/a> each month this year, including DexCom<\/strong> (DXCM<\/a>) in October, you’d have $197,394 now, says an Investor’s Business Daily analysis of data from S&P Global Market Intelligence and MarketSmith<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s an impressive 10-month gain of more than 1,870%. That’s quite a feat in a year the S&P 500 is down more than 18% and has been brushing with a bear market all year. The same $10,000 invested in the S&P 500 would be worth just $8,130 now. That’s a loss of $1,870.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While these 10 stocks jumped the most, the S&P 500 did well during the month, too. The S&P 500 rose 8.1% in October,\u00a0known as the bear-killer month<\/a>\u00a0for stocks. That snapped a two-month losing streak in September and August. It also marked the index’s second-best monthly gain of the year (second to the 9.1% rise in July). To date, the S&P 500 dropped in seven of the past 10 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hindsight is 20-20. And clearly, few if any investors could have picked out the top stock in each of the past 10 months, as it’s not a\u00a0repeatable strategy<\/a>. But the staggering numbers are a reminder to investors that gains can be found in a bear market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Investors get hopeful that markets will improve in October following a rough year. And this year, this wish played out right on cue. The month of October is known as the “bear killer.” And during the month, the S&P 500 narrowed its year-to-date loss and eased out of a bear market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also on the plus side, there was no crash during the month. October is also known as the “jinx month”<\/a> due to crashes in the month in 1929, 1987, 1997 and 2008, says the Stock Trader’s Almanac.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This year’s October gain was much better than the S&P 500’s average gain during the month of 0.5%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maker of glucose monitoring equipment DexCom was the S&P 500 stock to own in October. Shares soared more than 51% during the month. The company on Oct. 27 reported a quarterly profit that topped views by nearly 17%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But October had other money making opportunties, too. Nearly 15 stocks in the S&P 500 jumped 30% or more. Just when it looked like S&P 500 energy stocks would take a back seat to other sectors<\/a>, Halliburton turned it on \u2014 again. October is the second month this year Halliburton was among the S&P 500’s top stocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shares of the energy firm jumped 47% during the month, making it the top-performing stock in the S&P 500. The company is simply delivering the kind of growth that’s not easy to find. Analysts think the company will make upward of $2.10 a share this year. If they’re right, that would be more than 94% growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the company is already proving it can deliver, and then some. Halliburton on Oct. 25 reported more than 114% higher adjusted profit of 60 cents a share. That essentially matched the already high expectations. And now, investors hope profit in the fourth quarter will jump 86%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each month’s twists and turns reveal just how difficult of an S&P 500<\/a> this is for investors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The year kicked off inflation fears and turned Halliburton into January’s best stock with its 34% jump. And then hopes for government stimulus for more alternative-energy plays fanned SolarEdge<\/strong> (SEDG<\/a>) into February’s top stock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speculation started to return to the S&P 500 in July, when the market finally staged a powerful 9.1% rally. That month, information-technology play Enphase Energy<\/strong> (ENPH<\/a>) was tops with its 45.6% rise. But that rally ended quickly, followed by a 3.5% drop in August when the top-performing stock was a utility: Constellation Energy<\/strong> (CEG<\/a>). And that brings us to September, when it took a medical breakthrough at Biogen<\/strong> (BIIB<\/a>) to escape the market’s downward pull. Health care created the top winner in October, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some hope that November, traditionally the second-best month of the year, will build on the S&P 500’s momentum. But one thing’s for sure: S&P 500 investors will still find a way to avoid a jinx.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Investors finally got a good month in the S&P 500. And some traders really maximized their gains.So mad at you,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[254,3421,3422],"tags":[3452,888,3425],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.jlbn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11106"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.jlbn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.jlbn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.jlbn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.jlbn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11106"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.jlbn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11107,"href":"http:\/\/blog.jlbn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11106\/revisions\/11107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.jlbn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.jlbn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.jlbn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Did October Kill The Bear?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Top Stock Of October: DexCom<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Reading The S&P 500 This Year<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How To Turn $10,000 Into $197,394 In 10 Months<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Month<\/th> Top S&P 500 stock<\/th> Symbol<\/th> Monthly gain<\/th> Sector<\/th> S&P 500 monthly change<\/th> Beginning balance<\/th> Cumulative value of $10,000 investment in January reinvested in best stock each month<\/th><\/tr><\/thead> January<\/td> Halliburton<\/td> (HAL<\/a>)<\/td> 34.4%<\/td> Energy<\/td> -5.3%<\/td> $10,000<\/td> $13,440<\/td><\/tr> February<\/td> SolarEdge<\/td> (SEDG<\/a>)<\/td> 34.1%<\/td> Information Technology<\/td> -3.1%<\/td> $13,440<\/td> $18,023<\/td><\/tr> March<\/td> Nielsen Holdings<\/td> (NLSN<\/a>)<\/td> 56.4%<\/td> Industrials<\/td> 3.6%<\/td> $18,023<\/td> $28,188<\/td><\/tr> April<\/td> Twitter<\/td> (TWTR<\/a>)<\/td> 26.9%<\/td> Communication Services<\/td> -5.4%<\/td> $28,188<\/td> $35,771<\/td><\/tr> May<\/td> Albemarle<\/td> (ALB<\/a>)<\/td> 33.4%<\/td> Materials<\/td> -5.3%<\/td> $35,771<\/td> $47,718<\/td><\/tr> June<\/td> Dollar General<\/td> (DG<\/a>)<\/td> 11.4%<\/td> Consumer Discretionary<\/td> -8.4%<\/td> $47,718<\/td> $53,158<\/td><\/tr> July<\/td> Enphase Energy<\/td> (ENPH<\/a>)<\/td> 45.6%<\/td> Information Technology<\/td> 9.1%<\/td> $53,158<\/td> $77,398<\/td><\/tr> August<\/td> Constellation Energy<\/td> (CEG<\/a>)<\/td> 23.4%<\/td> Utilities<\/td> -3.5%<\/td> $77,398<\/td> $95,509<\/td><\/tr> September<\/td> Biogen<\/td> (BIIB<\/a>)<\/td> 36.6%<\/td> Health Care<\/td> -9.3%<\/td> $95,509<\/td> $130,465<\/td><\/tr> October<\/td> DexCom<\/td> (DXCM<\/a>)<\/td> 51.3%<\/td> Health Care<\/td> 8.1%<\/td> $130,465<\/td> $197,394<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Sources: IBD, S&P Global Market Intelligence<\/h5>\n\n\n\n