Good morning. 2023 has been a great year for stocks, with the markets rebounding strongly from...
It's the monthly jobs numbers today and they're not going to be pretty and will be possibly the tip of the iceberg as we head into May.
| | Good morning. 2023 has been a great year for stocks, with the markets rebounding strongly from last year's bear market. The Dow even hit a new record high last week. Bonds aren't having a great year thanks to rising interest rates, but they're well off their lows from the fall. But the real winner has been bitcoin. It's had a triple-digit return, more than doubling from under $20,000 to over $40,000 this year. And 2024 is likely to see the approval of a bitcoin ETF, on top of the cryptocurrency's next halving.
Plus, an accounting rule change will make it easier for companies to handle holding bitcoin on their balance sheets. It's not too late to get into this trade yet, and given the volatility, any 10 percent drop or higher in bitcoin in the next few months looks like a strong buying opportunity. A few companies also already have bitcoin on their balance sheet, or play to the space directly, and could fare better than bitcoin itself in the next 12 months. Now here's the rest of the news: | | | | | | | | | | DOW 37,305.16 | +0.15% | | | | S&P 4,719.19 | -0.01% | | | | NASDAQ 14,813.92 | +0.35% | | | | *As of market close | | • | Stocks traded mixed on Friday, but closed higher for the 7th consecutive week. | | • | Oil traded flat, closing at $71.62 per barrel. | | • | Gold dipped 0.5 percent, ending trading at $2,034 per ounce. | | • | Cryptocurrencies trended lower, with Bitcoin trading at $42,250 at the stock market close | | | | | | | | | | Invest With Stocks the Market Loves That Still Go for a Reasonable Price | | | | Buying a great company sounds easy in theory. But over time, a company's fortunes can ebb and flow. That also leads to big changes in valuations. Investors who target an up-and-coming company that still trades like a value stock can potentially see great returns. That's especially true for a company that can tap into one of today's many high-growth trends. Combining high growth with a reasonable value is a recipe for finding great stocks to buy and hold. » FULL STORY | | | | | | Insider Activity Report: J.M. Smucker (SJM) | | | | Tarang Amin, a director at J.M. Smucker (SJM), recently bought 1,000 shares. The buy is an initial stake for the director, who paid about $125,000 for the stock. This marks the first insider buy at the company over the past two years. Otherwise, company insiders have been regular sellers of shares. That includes traditional stock sales as well as sales following the exercise of stock options. » FULL STORY | | | | | | Unusual Options Activity: Valley National Bancorp (VLY) | | | | Regional bank Valley National Bancorp (VLY) is near 52-week highs and nearly double off its lows from the spring. One trader sees the bank moving even higher in the coming months. That's based on the March 2024 $12 calls. With 88 days until expiration, 7,589 contracts traded compared to a prior open interest of 149, for a 51-fold rise in volume on the trade. The buyer of the calls paid $0.50 to make the bullish bet.
» FULL STORY | | | | | | • | Central Banks Mixed on Potential Rate Cuts
Most of the world's major central banks have stopped increasing interest rates. A few are starting to look at potential rate cuts next year, including the Federal Reserve. However, other central banks have yet to make that commitment, including the Bank of England and the European Central Bank. That may mean cuts later, or earlier if there's a crisis in financial markets. | | | | • | China's Economy Shows Continued Slowdown
The Chinese economy showed further signs of slowing down in November, with investment and consumer spending coming in lower than expected. An ongoing real estate crisis is weighing on the country. China ended the last of its last Covid lockdowns a year ago, a move that was expected to lead to a faster-growing economy this year. | | | | • | Oil Prices Move to Contango
Crude oil prices jumped higher last week, but the futures market shows signs of contango. That's a pattern showing that most traders expect the price to be lower in the months ahead, not higher. Typically, such contango patterns in the futures markets are a poor sign for prices going forward. | | | | • | Coal Demand Set to Decline
The International Energy Agency expects coal demand to decline 2 percent over the next three years, as China's slowing growth and increasing investments in renewable energy reduce demand. This is the first time predictions have been to the downside over the last three-year period. Coal is on track to hit 9.4 billion tons of demand for 2023. | | | | • | Spotify Tests AI Playlist Feature
Podcast giant Spotify (SPOT) is developing an AI feature allowing users to create playlists from prompts. The feature is in the testing phase right now, with some users getting access to see how they respond to AI-created playlists. Spotify has not committed to a full launch date yet. | | | | | | TOP | | FSLR | 6.585% | | | STLD | 4.525% | | | JD | 4.459% | | | COST | 4.445% | | | BA | 3.134% | | | BOTTOM | | EXC | 6.359% | | | SIRI | 5.097% | | | AEE | 4.386% | | | ZION | 4.007% | | | LEN | 3.572% | | | | | | | | | I wouldn't be short on [mega cap tech] because they do grow their earnings a lot faster than everybody else does. But we are looking for the rally to broaden so I would look elsewhere for now. | | - Bankim Chadha, Deutsche Bank chief U.S. equity and global strategist, on why the stock market could move higher in 2024, driven by rallies in the hundreds of companies that aren't the mega-tech giants. | | |
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