Santa Made His List, US Stocks Finish on Their Highs

#stocks #commodities #cryptocurrencies #memes #rally #Santa #economy #politics #MSI

$DIS $SPY $QQQ $RUT $VXX $USO $GLD $USD $DXY $TSLA $COIN

"Investors should tune in for the Santa Claus Rally heading into and beyond yr's end"-- Paul Ebeling

DJIA +261.19 at 35753.89, NAS +180.81 at 15521.88, S&P 500 +47.33 at 4696.56

Wednesday, the US stock market ended on its highs with the NAS Comp (+1.2%) finishing ahead of the S&P 500 (+1.0%) and DJIA (+0.7%).

All 11 SP sectors finished the day in the Green with the consumer discretionary sector (+1.7%) ending in the lead, while 8 of the remaining 10 groups recorded gainers of under 1.0%.

• S&P 500 +25.0% YTD

• NAS Comp +20.4% YTD

• DJIA +16.8% YTD

• Russell 2000 +12.5% YTD

The Key Commodities

WTI Crude Oil climbed $1.66, or 2.3%, at $72.77/bbl, Gold futures settled $13.50 higher (+0.8%) at $1,802.20/oz, and the US Dollar Index is -0.4% to $96.11.

The Memes

The stock making the most noise Wednesday morning was Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA). Shares traded up as CEO Elon Musk’s comment that he has “sold enough” of his shares in the company to make good on his promise to sell 10% of his holdings lit a fire under the stock early in the session. Even an announced investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) had little impact on investors.

TSLA is trading at 1,003.60 -5.27 (-0.52% After hours: 08:00PM EST

The Cryptocurrencies

Coinbase is a Top pick for Y 2022 because of the continued adoption of digital assets by both institutions and retailers.

The US Economy

• The 3rd estimate for Q-3 GDP showed an upward revision to 2.3% from the 2nd estimate of 2.1%. The GDP Price Deflator was revised to 6.0% from the 2nd estimate of 5.9%.The Key takeaway from the report is that the growth had a lot to do with the change in private inventories. Real final sales of domestic product, which excludes the change in private inventories, were up 0.1%.

• The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index increased to 115.8 in December from an upwardly revised 111.9 in November.The Key takeaway from the report is that the pickup in the short-term outlook, despite inflation pressures suggests consumer spending should remain a positive GDP growth driver.

• Existing home sales increased 1.9% m/m in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.46 million. Total sales in November were down 2.0% from a yr ago.The Key takeaway from the report is that inventory remains extremely tight. That is leading to hefty price increases and crimping sales growth in the existing home market because of the limited supply and affordability pressures for prospective buyers.

• The wkly MBA Mortgage Index fell 0.6% to follow last wk's 4.0% decrease. The Purchase Index fell 3.3% while the Refinance Index rose 2.2%.

Looking Ahead: The market will receive a full slate of data Thursday, starting with November Personal Income, Personal Spending, PCE Prices, Core PCE Prices, wkly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 206,00, Continuing Claims, November Durable Orders and Durable Orders -ex trans followed by November New Home Sales and the final December University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment survey (MSI).

Politics

Mr. Biden and others are still trying to instill fear into the population. Instead of trying to instill fear in the population, he should be instilling calm, and and should not be pitting the vaccinated against the unvaccinated, as a whole lot of people who are vaccinated are testing positive for new variants.

Have a prosperous, Happy Christmas Holiday, Keep the Faith!