EconCurrents

After besting the past two sessions, the DOW and the S&P 500 ran out of steam at the closing bell. These indexes traded mostly sideways, just below the previous high record marks. The S&P 500 went negative during the first hour and again at noon. Both indexes ended up mixed, with the DOW closing up 90 points and the S&P 500 0.1% in the red. The DOW made its all-time high on a boost from retailers Home Depot and Nike.

The question now is this the Santa Clause rally we were hoping to see? There are two more trading days this week, and we may see more action of the positive kind. However, more than likely, this is all the fireworks the markets have in store for 2021. In addition, traders might be surprised they won’t be getting vacation time on Friday for New Year’s this year due to an obscure regulation called NYSE Rule 7.2.

Gold ends lower, but an intraday rally shrunk the losses and pushed the metal back above $1,804.

Western Digital’s stock surges to pace the S&P 500’s winners after rival Samsung has to ‘adjust.’ U.S. oil ends back at a 5-week high $76.47 as EIA data show a weekly crude drop of 3.6 million barrels

This Bull market heads into New Year on a shaky foundation and Investors need to be braced for the test of nerves in 2022, and a lot needs to fall into place for equities to post double-digit returns for the fourth year in a row.

It Is hard to ignore a pandemic when 2,800 flights were cancelled over the Christmas weekend plus Monday – and global COVID new cases have surged into record territory. Travel related stocks were the losers today.

Another loser today was Bitcoin which declined to $47,800.

Interestingly, history shows that the Santa Claus rally historically appears 77% of the time during the last week of trading during the year plus the first few days of the New Year.

The S&P closed down 0.2%, the DOW up 0.3%, and the NASDAQ off 0.6%. WTI crude closed up today at $76.08.

As usual, we have included the headlines and news summaries moving the markets today.

The bulls seemingly annual Santa Claus rally pushed the markets with the S&P hitting new highs in early trading today. The markets seemingly are ignoring:

• high inflation;
• and the Omicron COVID variant’s record level new infections.

The good news about Omicron is that it is becoming more apparent that it is a milder form of COVID. However, hospitalizations continue to rise, and over 2,000 flights were cancelled globally due to Omicron hitting flight crews.

Trading volumes were light. The S&P closed up 1.4%, the DOW up 1.0 % and the NASDAQ up 1.4%. Bitcoin surged to almost $51,200. WTI Crude drifted down to $72.91.

As usual, we have included the headlines and news summaries moving the markets today.

S&P 500 sweeps to a new record high and then falls off sharply at the close. The S&P 500 recorded its 68th record high this year, optimism that the omicron variant of COVID won’t derail global economies.

Wall Street stocks end higher for 3rd day in the final session before Christmas.

U.S. stocks book a third straight gain Thursday, with EV stocks soaring on hype in 2021 — investors are betting 2022 will bring actual revenue. Nikola shares surge 20% after the company delivers its first EV truck.

Oil prices have risen back to the mid-$70s this week due to tighter U.S. crude inventories and a force majeure on Libyan crude oil exports, Friday, December 23rd, 2021. In addition, the number of active drilling rigs in the United States last week rose by 7, bringing the total to 586 as oil prices remain relatively strong despite the fresh wave of Covid-19 cases brought by the new variant of the coronavirus.

Wall Street is closed on Christmas, and there’s no New Year’s Day holiday for the stock market this year.

Wall Street opened mixed this morning as Omicron investor fears linger; ‘Santa Claus rally’ may not happen. But, unfortunately, history says that if Santa Claus doesn’t come to Wall Street in December, the Grinch will visit the stock market in January and raise hell.

The market opened mostly flat but rebounded for a second day from omicron’s sell-off and gained upward throughout the trading session by improving consumer confidence and gross domestic product growth.

U.S. oil prices made gains on Wednesday after investors cheered positive economic data. WTI settled at 72.89, gold higher 1804, but stopped at its resistance. In addition, the White House said it was resuming talks on a major social spending bill with a senator crucial to passing the legislation. Crude oil prices recovered on Wednesday morning despite word from the Energy Information Administration of an inventory draw of 4.7 million barrels for the week to December 17.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), coal production may hit an all-time high despite curbing production across several countries and aims for decarbonization following COP26.

Another day, another buying-panic at the cash open in U.S. equities. Nevertheless, the DOW managed to ‘get back to even’ on the week, and Nasdaq and Small Caps led the week up over 2%. Tesla Inc. is once again worth $1 trillion after Chief Executive Elon Musk said he had completed selling shares.

Wall Street equities making the biggest moves midday: Citrix Systems, Boeing, Nike, Kellogg. WTI crude is higher at 71.37 but remains range-bound. U.S. stocks gain today, positioning ignited by renewed investor fears that swelling Omicron case numbers could derail economic recovery and worsen inflationary pressures. NASDAQ gained 2.3%, and the S&P 500 rose 1.8%.

Global stocks buoyed by renewed risk appetite; oil rebounds 3.7% higher as crude attempts to bounce back from the omicron selloff. While climbing Omicron cases have sparked fear of demand destruction, supply issues in Libya and falling U.S. oil inventories pushed prices higher.

On Tuesday, Europe’s energy crisis worsened and faces a full-blown energy crisis as gas prices smash all records. A shortage of natural gas, nuclear outages, declining wind power output, and cold weather contributed to higher prices.

Monday shaped up an ugly session for Wall Street going into the Christmas Holiday and casts negative feelings on investor morale. The Dow slipped critically at the opening bell, sliding 1.2 percent, and the Nasdaq rests on an important 100 day SMA correction level. Because stock investors don’t see a Santa Clause rally coming may trigger a correction greater than twenty percent.

Bitcoin Is Slumping, and Investors Are Seeking Safety Into Year-End; however, the mood isn’t gloomy enough to start buying commodities yet, maybe tomorrow!

WTI crude settled fractionally down from Friday to 68.96, gold down fractionally to 1791, Bitcoin rose 200 points to 46800.

Friday shaped up to be a doozy of a session on Wall Street, capping what has been a stomach-churning ride in markets over the past few weeks. The U.S. stock market’s Friday action seems particularly frenetic, and experts say that investors can attribute at least a part of the session’s moves to one novel factor: quadruple witching. Stocks slide, red volume higher since May, safe-havens gain as Omicron worries weigh.

Wall Street markets fell sharply at the opening bell as the tech rout continued for another session extending the selloff and deepening during the final minutes. The DOW opened down and proceeded to form a triangle, with the pinnacle breaking downward at 2:30. Wall Street’s Dow Indrustrial’s finally closed down, sending investors wondering what will happen on Monday. The DOW’s 462-point fall was led by losses for Goldman Sachs, Home Depot shares. Only the Russel 2000 showed any promise of keeping a Santa Clause rally alive by closing up 1.0%. Helping keep the SC rally alive was NASDAQ only closing down 0.07%

Oil prices suffer a weekly loss as the omicron variant continues to spread – Oil prices settle lower at 70.41 for the session and week, but oil rigs increased by three despite Omicron’s uncertainty.

Despite America’s epic consumer boom, containerized imports to the Port of Los Angeles dropped to 403,569 twenty-foot equivalent units in November, down 14% from October and down 13.2% year on year.

Investors Note: Twenty-five chemical stocks have fallen from multi-bagger zone to bear territory. Time to buy or sell?

The SP 500 sets a new record on opening, sucking in many Happy Feet, then falling sharply towards the session close. Dow follows NASDAQ into the red, closing down 30 points with the NASDAQ water falling then accelerating with about an hour left to the finishing down 2.6%.

US tech stocks slide after central bank policy shifts indicating the Fed still has a lot of questions to answer about its long-term strategy. Selling intensified following global Central Bank decisions earlier.

The COVID surge is gripping New York City ahead of the holidays in other news. New York City’s test positivity rate doubled in just three days, Dr. Jay Varma, a top health advisor to Mayor Bill de Blasio, tweeted Thursday, ‘We have never seen anything like this before.

How bad is inflation? Even millionaires are worried about it. For the wealthy and affluent, inflation brings the threat of higher interest rates, which increases the cost of borrowing and can put pressure on asset values. Read more below.

Today’s session doesn’t look like a bear market is forming as some analysts were predicting yesterday, just the opposite. The BTFDers were out in full force, snatching up bargains as U.S. stocks jump on Fed decision to accelerate taper, pushing the DOW up 383 points to close with a bang. NASDAQ closed up 2.2%, and the $SPX closed up 1.5%.

Today, the Fed said that it would aggressively dial back its bond-buying and sees three rate hikes next year. Ray Dalio warns the Fed’s hands are tied and that higher U.S. inflation is sticking around. Ex-Treasury Chief Summers stated: ‘Rate Hikes Will Put Economy, Markets at Risk.’

WTI crude settled slightly higher at 71.2, and the USD remains elevated at 96.45, gold shot up higher to 1780 and silver at 22.09. Bitcoin rose fractionally to 49300, and Dogecoin remained in the same area as yesterday at 0.1835. Market volume was green and ‘normal.’