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Happy New Year! Market activity looks to be getting right back to its old business: The Dow is up more than 110 points, the Nasdaq +60 and the S&P 500 +15. It appears there is more appetite at the start of the year to shoot for new all-time highs in the market. And this comes at the start of a month which has finished up each year in the last five.
Healthcare and Materials are at record highs, though Tech finished as the strongest sector in 2020. Tesla (TSLA - Free Report) finished the year up 680%, and delivered a record-number 499,550 vehicles on the year. Pfizer (PFE - Free Report) and Moderna (MRNA - Free Report) vaccines continue to make the rounds — albeit more slowly than projected — into people’s arms all around the country. Now AstraZeneca’s (AZN - Free Report) approved coronavirus vaccines are being administered in the UK. It all spells a return to robust economic growth in the new year.
Of course, Covid-19 does continue to ravage much of the world, most crucially in the U.S. Even over the holidays, new cases averaged over 200K domestically, with 3000 fatalities per day now tragically commonplace. According to Dr Fauci on the Sunday morning new talks shows, the vaccination rate is increasing (to 4 million from the 20 million expected), but we’re still not where we want to be in terms of immunization goals.
There is also a double-run-off election in the state of Georgia for both of its Senate seats. By all polling accounts, the results will be close. Last week it was reported that 98% of Georgia voters were going strictly by party line; if the Democrats win both seats, it would put both houses of Congress and the White House in the control of the Democratic Party. The last time this happened was 2008, when President Obama first took office.
After today’s market opens, Markit Manufacturing PMI (Purchasing Managers’ Index) for December and Construction Spending for November releases will both come out, looking to build on higher results from the previous month. Manufacturing PMI was 56.5 last time around, while Construction Spending rose by 1.3%.
Image: Bigstock
Markets Pick Up in 2021 Right Where They Left Off
Monday, January 4, 2021
Happy New Year! Market activity looks to be getting right back to its old business: The Dow is up more than 110 points, the Nasdaq +60 and the S&P 500 +15. It appears there is more appetite at the start of the year to shoot for new all-time highs in the market. And this comes at the start of a month which has finished up each year in the last five.
Healthcare and Materials are at record highs, though Tech finished as the strongest sector in 2020. Tesla (TSLA - Free Report) finished the year up 680%, and delivered a record-number 499,550 vehicles on the year. Pfizer (PFE - Free Report) and Moderna (MRNA - Free Report) vaccines continue to make the rounds — albeit more slowly than projected — into people’s arms all around the country. Now AstraZeneca’s (AZN - Free Report) approved coronavirus vaccines are being administered in the UK. It all spells a return to robust economic growth in the new year.
Of course, Covid-19 does continue to ravage much of the world, most crucially in the U.S. Even over the holidays, new cases averaged over 200K domestically, with 3000 fatalities per day now tragically commonplace. According to Dr Fauci on the Sunday morning new talks shows, the vaccination rate is increasing (to 4 million from the 20 million expected), but we’re still not where we want to be in terms of immunization goals.
There is also a double-run-off election in the state of Georgia for both of its Senate seats. By all polling accounts, the results will be close. Last week it was reported that 98% of Georgia voters were going strictly by party line; if the Democrats win both seats, it would put both houses of Congress and the White House in the control of the Democratic Party. The last time this happened was 2008, when President Obama first took office.
After today’s market opens, Markit Manufacturing PMI (Purchasing Managers’ Index) for December and Construction Spending for November releases will both come out, looking to build on higher results from the previous month. Manufacturing PMI was 56.5 last time around, while Construction Spending rose by 1.3%.
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