On Thursday, Nov 5, 2026, SPY had its worst day since April 4, 2025. If you own income stocks, you probably noticed something odd in your account. REITs, BDCs, utilities and staples barely moved, and a few names finished up. This piece asks whether that cushion is something you can count on, or whether it was a one-day fluke.
Some quick definitions first. REITs own property, such as stores, warehouses, towers and apartments, and pay out most of their rental income. Net-lease REITs like Realty Income (O) rent single buildings to tenants on long leases. BDCs (business development companies) like Ares Capital (ARCC) are leveraged lenders to mid-sized private companies. Both are popular with income investors because their yields are high: 5.46% trailing for O and 9.92% for ARCC as of the Nov 5 close.
What Happened Thursday
Tech and chip stocks led the selloff as investors weighed what the midterm election results could mean for AI and data-center spending. The Nasdaq Composite fell 5.52%. The Dow fell 1,833 points (3.44%). The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 12.25%, its worst day since March 2020 (per CNBC, Fox Business and Axios coverage of Nov 5).
The tech sector fund XLK fell 8.00%. Realty Income rose 0.47%. Everything else landed somewhere in between.
Performance and yield figures are historical and may change. Total return includes price movement and distributions where available. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Yield is not the same as total return.
Table 1: One-Day Move, Nov 4 Close to Nov 5 Close (Total Return)
| Ticker | What It Is | Nov 5 Move |
| XLK | Tech sector | -8.00% |
| QQQ | Nasdaq-100 | -6.49% |
| JEPQ | Nasdaq-100 covered-call income | -5.95% |
| SPY | S&P 500 | -4.41% |
| VYM | High dividend yield | -3.30% |
| VTV | Large value | -3.07% |
| XLE | Energy | -2.98% |
| SCHD | Dividend quality | -2.18% |
| VNQ | REITs | -1.84% |
| HTGC | Tech/venture lender BDC | -1.56% |
| SPLV | Low volatility | -1.17% |
| BIZD | BDC ETF | -0.79% |
| XLP | Consumer staples | -0.75% |
| XLU | Utilities | -0.71% |
| ARCC | Diversified BDC | -0.57% |
| VICI | Net-lease REIT (casinos/experiential) | -0.16% |
| TLT | Long Treasuries | +0.21% |
| OBDC | Diversified BDC | +0.46% |
| O | Realty Income, net-lease REIT | +0.47% |
| ADC | Agree Realty, net-lease REIT | +0.71% |
| GLD | Gold | +0.81% |
O and ADC traded on normal volume on Nov 5, about 1.0x their 20-day averages, so their gains weren't a thin print. SPY, QQQ and XLK traded about 3x their averages.
"Value" Did Not Protect You. Income Did.
A value tilt alone did not shield you. VTV fell 3.07% and VYM fell 3.30%, which is roughly 70% to 75% of SPY's drop. Both funds still hold plenty of banks, industrials and other economically sensitive companies.
The groups that held up were income-heavy and rate-sensitive: REITs, BDCs, utilities and staples. Long Treasuries rose slightly, which means interest rates eased on the day. Lower rates support businesses whose value comes from steady payouts.
The rally in income names started a day earlier. On Wednesday, Nov 4, VNQ rose 3.18% and O rose 2.99%, while XLE fell 4.74% and the oil fund USO fell 8.07%. TLT rose 0.80% that day too. So Thursday's cushion wasn't only money fleeing tech. Falling rates were helping income names all week.
BDCs Split by Who They Lend To
Diversified lenders ARCC (-0.57%) and OBDC (+0.46%) barely moved. HTGC, which lends to venture-backed and tech companies, fell 1.56%. In a selloff about tech, it matters whether your lender's borrowers are tech companies.
