Market Performance - The S&P 500 advanced about 1.9%, the Dow Jones gained 1.7%, and the Nasdaq Composite surged about 4.2% in October 2025 [1] Earnings Season - Of the 222 S&P 500 companies that reported Q3 results, earnings increased by 10.7% year over year on 8% higher revenues, with 83.8% surpassing EPS estimates and 77.9% exceeding revenue forecasts; notably, 68.5% beat both metrics [3] Federal Reserve Actions - The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point, bringing the benchmark rate to a range of 3.75-4.00%, reflecting intentions to bolster economic growth and strengthen the labor market [4] U.S.-China Trade Relations - Hopes for easing U.S.-China trade tensions have increased investor confidence, with discussions between President Trump and President Xi Jinping indicating a pause in new trade tensions and a resumption of U.S. agricultural imports [5] - China will end investigations targeting U.S. companies in the semiconductor supply chain, as announced by the White House [6] Company Highlights - NVIDIA has reached a $5-trillion market cap, driven by partnerships with the U.S. Energy Department and Uber, among others, focusing on supercomputers and self-driving cars [7] - Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) shares surged 55.5% over the past month, bolstered by a multi-billion dollar strategic partnership with OpenAI [10] Gold Market - Gold prices fell in late October, with the SPDR Gold Trust losing about 0.8% over the past week and about 8.7% over the last 10 days, attributed to easing U.S.-China trade tensions and a stronger U.S. dollar [8] ETF Performance - The Defiance Leveraged Long + Income AMD ETF (AMDU) increased by 97.7% in the past month [9] - The Global X MSCI Argentina ETF (ARGT) rose by 35.3%, driven by political developments that strengthened confidence in fiscal reforms [12] - The CoinShares Bitcoin Mining ETF (WGMI) gained 29.7%, benefiting from increased institutional and corporate adoption of cryptocurrencies [13] - The Global X Hydrogen ETF (HYDR) increased by 28.2%, driven by the AI industry's demand for clean energy sources [14]
Best-Performing ETFs of October