US real estate shares and commodities led performance among the major asset classes last month. Overall, global markets posted a mostly positive October following widespread losses in September, based on a set of ETFs.

After two consecutive months of steep declines, US real estate investment trusts (VNQ) rebounded, posting a strong 4.8% gain. The rally marked VNQ’s biggest monthly advance since April.

Commodities (GSG) delivered the second-strongest performance, extending a winning streak to four straight months. Commodities have posted gains in all but three months over the past year and continue to lead the major asset classes in 2026.

US equities (VTI) fell for a second straight month in October, slipping 0.7%. US bonds (BND), by contrast, gained 2.4%, recovering much of September’s decline.

Reviewing the horse race so far this year continues to highlight how far commodities are ahead of the rest of the field: GSG is up more than 60% year to date. The second-best performance in 2026 belongs to developed-market stocks outside the US (VEA), with a 12.2% gain. US equities (VTI) rank third, posting an 11.8% year-to-date advance. Meanwhile, a broad measure of US investment-grade bonds (BND) continues to show a modest loss for the year.

The Global Market Index (GMI) posted a fractional loss in October, slipping 0.6%. GMI is an unmanaged benchmark maintained by The Capital Spectator that tracks all major asset classes, excluding cash, in market-value weights through ETFs. It serves as a competitive benchmark for globally diversified, multi-asset portfolio strategies. Although GMI has declined in four of the past five months, it remains up a solid 9.5% year to date, outperforming the majority of its underlying asset-class components in 2026.