Year to date strong earnings have been an important driver for stock market returns. November ended with the S&P 500 and Dow Industrials finishing lower due to additional market volatility surrounding the Omicron variant.
Below is a chart published by LPL Research showing where the major indexes sit for the year as we start December.
December is historically the third best month of the year for the S&P 500 and has been positive 74.3% of the time. Though this brings optimism to end 2021, we continue monitoring market sentiment as companies work to dodge Omicron concerns.