Monthly Analytics November 2026
US Equities Quantitative Market Analysis
Market data to Oct 30 2026
The month in review
The index slipped, but the typical stock rose
The S&P 500 fell 0.9% while the median US stock gained 0.6%. Utilities led (median stock +7.6%), Basic Materials lagged (-8.8%), and large companies beat small ones by a wide margin: +6.0% against -3.2%.
Sector correlation
Sectors held their shape, but Financials began trading like Utilities
The market's overall structure barely moved. Underneath it, bank and insurance stocks drew closer to utilities, and 345 stocks that normally move with their peers went the other way. Volatility rose, and correlation rose with it, as it has over the record.
How the market trades
More of the day's trading crowded into the closing bell
The 4pm closing auction, where index funds trade, took 9.5% of volume, far above a year ago. Large blocks moved back onto the exchanges. Both shifts were well outside their usual range.
Short selling
Short sellers stepped up, most of all in Industrials
Short sales made up 50.5% of reported volume, unusually high against their own history. Short interest jumped most in MDT, ENTX and HAFN.
Lawsuits
Lawsuit news jumped 43%, with Healthcare at the centre
1,059 articles about shareholder suits, 1.4 times the usual. 76 companies were newly caught in a burst of them, XTIA, RXT and DUOL most of all. One firm, Rosen Law, accounted for 563 mentions.
News tone
The news turned unusually upbeat, Healthcare most of all
8 of 11 sectors read better than their own norm. Real Estate turned sharply more negative, and in Basic Materials, Communication Services and Real Estate the headlines and the prices told different stories.
Earnings reactions
Profits grew, but the market was hard to impress
Two in three of the 682 companies reporting earned more per share than a year before, more than in most months, yet only half beat their sector on the day. Energy was received best, Healthcare worst. Big first-day reactions have tended to partly reverse in the days after.
IPOs
A quiet IPO month: 12 listings, small first-day gains
The median new listing rose 3.8% on its first day and has since slipped below its first close. Since 2009, buying at the first close has left the median IPO 18% lower a year later.
Joining or leaving an index
Being dropped from the Russell 2000 has been costly
Over the four months around the change, stocks removed from the Russell 2000 trailed similar stocks by 18.5%. Joining the S&P 500 has meant +2.4%, but that edge is not reliable.
Inverse ETFs as a substitute for short selling
540 stocks can be hedged with an inverse ETF instead of a short sale
25 have a near-exact match, almost always a fund built on that one stock (PLTR to PLTZ, for example). For the rest the best fit is a sector or market fund, which hedges the market's move but not the company's own story.