Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Small-Caps at Record Highs Ahead of Christmas

Read MoreHide Full Article

The small-cap Russell 2000 index has hit another closing record high today — the 13th time this has occurred this year. Otherwise, it was sort of a reversal of yesterday’s close, with the S&P 500 up slightly and the Dow more solidly in the green, while the Nasdaq dipped 0.3% on the day. Energy and Financials led; Energy had been one of the underperforming industries a day ago.

A report on New Home Sales for November was released earlier today, posting a disappointing 841K from an expected the 1.0 million expected. This marks an 11% drop for the month (though still +20% year over year), and is the third straight month of lower new home sales. Short supply in housing and historically low mortgage rates have put this industry on the front burner, but homebuilders continue to struggle keeping supply in pace with demand. A month ago, 945K new homes were sold for the month.

Consumer Sentiment for December came in at 80.7, slightly lower than the 81.0 analysts were looking for, and 70 basis points below the November read of 81.4. This is only a partial look at this year’s all-important holiday shopping season. We’ll get a more well-rounded view next month and the month after, when retailers bring forth their quarterly earnings results.

Moderna (MRNA - Free Report) has issued a statement on its Emergency Use Application (EUA)-approved Covid-19 vaccine, and how it’s projected to perform on the variant strain of the coronavirus discovered in the south of England. The company said that because the vaccine covers the entire spike protein — the region of the mutation in the new strain — that its efficacy should not be negatively affected. This is similar to the statement released on the Pfizer (PFE - Free Report) -BioNTech (BNTX - Free Report) Covid-19 vaccine previously.

Tomorrow is only a half-day for the markets. Volumes tend to slow right before a big holiday, as well. This column will update ahead of the opening bell, but will not return until Monday of next week.

Questions or comments about this article and/or its author? Click here>>

Zacks Names “Single Best Pick to Double”

From thousands of stocks, 5 Zacks experts each have chosen their favorite to skyrocket +100% or more in months to come. From those 5, Director of Research Sheraz Mian hand-picks one to have the most explosive upside of all.

You know this company from its past glory days, but few would expect that it’s poised for a monster turnaround. Fresh from a successful repositioning and flush with A-list celeb endorsements, it could rival or surpass other recent Zacks’ Stocks Set to Double like Boston Beer Company which shot up +143.0% in a little more than 9 months and Nvidia which boomed +175.9% in one year.

Free: See Our Top Stock and 4 Runners Up >>


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Pfizer Inc. (PFE) - free report >>

Moderna, Inc. (MRNA) - free report >>

BioNTech SE Sponsored ADR (BNTX) - free report >>

Published in