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Stocks Consolidate, Gold Dips, USD Strengthens

#stocks #commodities #dollar #cryptocurrency #memes #economy #politics

$DIA $SPY $QQQ $RUT $VXX $GLD $USO $USD $DXY $MEME $BTCUSD $KNIGHTSUSD

DJIA -0.06 to 35754.69, NAS Comp -269.62 to 15517.36, S&P 500 -33.76 to 4667.45

Thursday, the S&P 500 dipped 0.7% as the market consolidated gainers from the past 3-days running. The NAS Comp (-1.7%) and Russell 2000 (-2.3%), while the DJIA closed flat to unchanged. 

9 of the 11 S&P 500 sectors closed lower, including the consumer discretionary (-1.7%), information technology (-1.1%), and real estate (-1.4%) sectors with losses over 1.0%. The defensive-oriented healthcare (+0.3%) and consumer staples (+0.1%) sectors closed higher. 

  • S&P 500 +24.3% YTD
  • NAS Comp +20.4% YTD
  • DJIA +16.8% YTD
  • Russell 2000 +12.4% YTD

Key Commodities

WTI Crude Oil settled lower by 2.2%, or $1.56, to $70.87/bbl, Gold futures settled $8.80 lower (-0.5%) to $1,776.70/oz and the US Dollar Index is up about +0.4% at $96.24.

The Memes

Overall the meme stocks on our list traded lower on the day. But, in case you were wondering about the Roundhill Meme ETF (NYSEAMERICAN:MEME), it was trading down by about 4.8% on light volume.

Cryptocurrencies

Michael Saylor has probably spent more on bitcoin at this point than anyone else – and he is still buying. The CEO of MicroStrategy, a publicly traded business software company that now operates more like an unregistered bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), started his BTC binge with the firm’s cash reserves in Y 2020 and has not stopped.

Sometimes he buys the dip, sometimes at peaks, a sort of institutional-grade dollar cost averaging.

To date, MicroStrategy has bought 122,478 BTC worth about $6-B and is still on the market.

Mr. Saylor has positive views on bitcoin. In addition to being the world’s most secure digital asset, not a currency, bitcoin is “energy,” a creative life force, he says. Fiat, by comparison, is a dead end street.

US Economy

  • Initial claims for the wk ending 4 December dropped by 43,000 to 184,000. That is the lowest mark since 6 September 1969. Continuing claims for the wk ending 27 November increased by 38,000 to 1.992-M.
    • The Key takeaway from the report is that seasonal factors had a lot to do with the sizable drop in initial claims. On an unadjusted basis, initial claims increased by 63,680 to 280,665.
  • Wholesale inventories increased 2.3% m/m in October following a 1.4% increase in September.

Looking Ahead: Investors will receive the Consumer Price Index for November, the preliminary University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment (MSI) for December, and the Treasury Budget for November Friday.

Politics

A group of House ultra-liberals is pushing to officially shorten the US workweek to 4-days, saying that the time is right following the “nearly two-year-long pandemic,” in a statement this wk.

Representative Mark Takano (D-CA) the Vice-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, released a statement on Tuesday declaring that the group was formally endorsing a bill to shorten the official workweek to 32 from 40hrs.

Have a prosperous day, Keep the Faith!

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Paul A. Ebeling, a polymath, excels, in diverse fields of knowledge Including Pattern Recognition Analysis in Equities, Commodities and Foreign Exchange, and he is the author of "The Red Roadmaster's Technical Report on the US Major Market Indices, a highly regarded, weekly financial market commentary. He is a philosopher, issuing insights on a wide range of subjects to over a million cohorts. An international audience of opinion makers, business leaders, and global organizations recognize Ebeling as an expert.