Stocks rebounded in the final days of a tumultuous September, thanks mainly to hopes for a fiscal stimulus but they still recorded the first monthly loss for major indexes since March. However, it was great third quarter overall with strong gains in August.
The Nasdaq surged 11% while the S&P 500 and the Dow gained 8.5% and 7.6% respectively in the third quarter. Combined with stronger second quarter gains, it was the best two-quarter performance since 2009, per WSJ.
Consumer discretionary was the best performing sector in the quarter, with a gain of 16%, while industrials and technology gained 14% and 12% each. Energy was the worst performer, down 19%.
Looking at ETF areas, clean energy ETFs were the top performing group. Falling costs with continued technological innovation has started changing the competitive balance between clean and traditional energy. Rising odds of a Biden victory have further boosted these stocks as he has pledged to spend
$2 trillion
to combat climate change.
The Invesco Solar ETF (
TAN
) soared over 80% during the quarter. SolarEdge Technologies (
SEDG
) and Enphase Energy (
ENPH
) are among its top holdings.
Sports betting is now legal in many states after the Supreme Court cleared the way for states to legalize it. The Roundhill Sports Betting & iGaming ETF (
BETZ
), the first and only ETF to provide exposure to the fast-growing sports betting and iGaming industry, gained about 41% during the quarter. Penn National Gaming (
PENN
) and DraftKings (
DKNG
) are among its top holdings.
The Invesco DWA Consumer Cyclicals Momentum ETF (
PEZ
) holds 42 consumer companies selected and weighted by price momentum. Tesla (
TSLA
) and Carvana (
CVNA
) are among its top holdings. The fund was up about 36% during the quarter.
To learn more about these ETFs, please watch the short video above.
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