November is over, and the market is now preparing for a Fed rate hike and what it hopes will be a Santa Claus rally.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained just 0.3% for the month. The promise of higher interest rates helped push up financials, which were the market’s best-performing sector in November, adding close to 1.9%. Utilities, which behave like bonds because of their steady-streaming dividends, were the worst-performing sector, dropping 2.1%.
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November was a great month for smaller companies, according to data compiled by S&P Capital IQ. The S&P SmallCap 600 (^SP600) rallied 2.7% for the month, while the S&P MidCap 400 (^MID) added close to 1.4%.
Emerging markets, on the other hand, had a rougher go this past month. For example, the ETF tracking the MSCI Emerging Markets Index (trading under the symbol EEM) dropped 2.8% in November.
| Sector | ETF | November | Year-to-date |
| Financials | +1.89% | +0.61% | |
| Industrials | +0.93% | -0.54% | |
| Information Technology | +0.87% | +8.41% | |
| Materials | +0.83% | -4.40% | |
| Consumer Discretionary | -0.24% | +13.26% | |
| Energy | -0.24% | -12.48% | |
| Health Care | -0.41% | +5.02% | |
| Consumer Staples | -1.11% | +3.63% | |
| Telecom Services | -1.26% | +1.62% | |
| Utilities | -2.14% | -6.87% | |
| Source: S&P Capital IQ | |||
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