Weekly Market Bullets
for the week ending 12/25/2020
  • US Equity Markets were largely positive in the holiday-shortened week last week following agreement in Congress on an additional fiscal stimulus package, though President Trump has suggested he wants more. The S&P 500 was the lone index that was down for the week, though it only dropped 0.2% and remains up 14.6% for the year. The Nasdaq rose 0.4% for the week on healthy gains in Technology and is now up 42.7% for the year, while strength in the Russell 2000 (small cap stocks) continued last week, up 1.7%, to bring its gains for the year to 20.1%.

  • Global Equity Markets declined last week on thin volumes, as investors reacted to a new strain of coronavirus found in the UK and watched the latest Brexit developments. Developed Markets fell 0.6% for the week but remain up 3.9% for the year. Emerging Markets were down 1.0% for the week to bring their gains for the year to 12.6%.

  • US Interest Rates remain range-bound, stuck between continued Federal Reserve efforts to stimulate the economy and investor uncertainty around the speed of distribution for the vaccine. The yield on the US 10-Year Treasury ticked down to 0.93% last week from 0.96% the prior week. Since early November, yields have consistently traded between 0.80% and 1.0%.
Of Interest to Us
  • US Consumer Confidence for December dropped to its lowest level since August, as the recent surge in COVID-19 cases has weighed on sentiment. The decline was specifically due to a significant drop in consumers' views of the Present Situation, which is likely attributed to COVID. Encouragingly, consumers' views of their expectations for the future actually increased in December.
Market Data
for the week ending 12/25/2020
If you have questions about the markets or would like to talk about your investments, please contact me at bfontana@invtrust.com or via phone at 704.940.3544.
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