Welcome to the last trading week of 2020, a year we can not see fast enough. Shares show higher after President Donald Trump signed the $ 900 billion stimulus bill, despite 11-hour demands for greater relief.
With just a handful of trading days before the end of the year, we can call of the day According to investors, they should get a bumpy start to 2021 if we end the year with the stock market records.
It was an “unprecedented year for financial assets”, with stock markets melting down on the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year, followed by an impressive upswing as authorities increased the stimulus, says John Hardy, head of the FX strategy, at Saxo Bank. .
“Market historians looking back on another incredible year – 1999 – in which the S&P 500 ended the year at a new high of all time, will remember that the first few days of 2000 had a cruel correction. “Yes, the times were different and the focus then was on Y2K and the concentrated bubble of that time, but investors need a reminder that one can see significant setbacks even during big runs in the bull market,” Hardy said in a note to customers that published Monday.
Fresh closings hardly seem like a far-fetched idea for Monday’s session. On Thursday, the S&P 500 closed just 0.5% from its record high of 1722.48 on December 17th. Equity futures indicate that the S&P may not open too far from the level.
Others have discussed ominous parallels between this market and 1999. The S&P 500 ended that year with 19%, but fell by 10% in 2000. This is because the market cattle are hard to find these days, with an average year-end price target for the S&P 500 of 4,027.21 among Wall Street’s big forecasters.
The markets
Equity futures contract YM00,
ES00,
NQ00,
is higher. London markets are closed for a long banking holiday, while European markets SXXP,
is on, also helped by last week’s post-Brexit trade deal, which gives British GBPUSD,
a big boost. Asian markets have mostly risen, and bitcoin BTCUSD,
soaring at $ 26,000, after hitting a record $ 28,000 over the Christmas weekend. But is it right for your portfolio?
The buzz
President Trump signed the stimulus bill, but also said Congress would vote on lifting individual stimulus payments to what he wants – $ 2,000 – from the agreed $ 600. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would vote again Monday, but Republicans blocked such an attempt last week.
Alibaba BABA,
9988,
increased its share buyback program from $ 6 billion to $ 10 billion, but the e-commerce giant’s shares fell by nearly 8% in Hong Kong and are still suffering from an antitrust inquiry by Chinese regulators. Over the weekend, authorities also demanded that the online financing platform Ant Group, of which Alibaba owns a 33% stake, clean up its business and submit a plan for it, after its stock debut was suspended last month.
The EU’s COVID-19 vaccine campaign started this weekend. US officials are looking “very seriously” at a new type of virus in the UK, says the government’s leading expert on infectious diseases, Dr Anthony Fauci. He also warned of a possible ‘resurgence after a resurgence’ after Christmas in the US
U.S. holiday spending rose 3% from Oct. 11 to Dec. 24, according to a survey by Mastercard Spending Pulse. The biggest jump was seen in household furniture and furnishings, while clothing spending fell.
The man is believed to have been responsible for the Nashville bombing on Christmas Day in the blast, investigators said.
The graph
With a ‘slightly larger’ and ‘earlier’ stimulus package now approved, Goldman Sachs has lifted its US growth forecasts. A team led by chief economist Jan Hatzius now predicts growth in the first quarter of 2021 of 5%, up from 3% previously, and ‘significantly higher production levels in all four quarters’.
They expect a large increase in disposable income in the first quarter:
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