With the third quarter (Q3) behind us, we decided to conduct a deep dive into the key factors that shaped Q3 performance. Below, we’ve highlighted what we believe to be 10 of the key takeaways.

• Source: LPL Research, FactSet, 09/30/25
• Disclosures: All indexes are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

10 Takeaways from Q3:

1. Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq Hit Record Highs: The Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow), the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq Composite each hit all-time highs in Q3, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq risin

It appears the federal government is shutting down today, October 1, as Congress has failed to agree on funding legislation for the upcoming federal fiscal year. If the shutdown occurs, it will be the first one since 2019 and the 21st since 1976.

Here are eight things to know about government shutdowns:

1. What is a government shutdown?

A government shutdown occurs when Congress fails to pass funding legislation for the upcoming federal fiscal year. Congress is required to pass 12 appropriation bills that need to be signed into law by the president to continue funding the government. There are 12 appropriation sub

Despite a weaker end to the month, the equity market “melt-up” successfully navigated what has historically been a tricky month for equities, as represented by the S&P 500 in September (average returns -0.61%), closing out the month (as of September 29) with a handsome gain of over 3%. As we move toward October, this month has been far from spooky, leaning more “treat” than “trick” for equity investors. Since 1950, October has posted positive returns nearly 60% of the time, and an average gain of 0.89%, though past performance does not guarantee future results.

Seasonality Trends Supportive

We believe that carefully selected active Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) may provide benefits to investor portfolios. Actively-managed ETFs have proliferated in recent years and appear to be in demand by investors. Here we discuss three common reasons investors favor ETFs, including tax efficiency, relatively low expense, and intraday trading on an exchange. While we generally agree active ETFs may provide these potential benefits, we also believe these features warrant further discussions and careful consideration.

Tax Efficiency

The Backstory. The touted tax efficiency of ETFs compared to mutual funds stems from the way in w