The futures markets are little changed this morning, ahead of the shortened day of trading before the Christmas holiday break. In developing news, American Airlines (AAL) temporarily grounded all of its flights due to a “technical issue,” impacting a significant amount of Christmas Eve travel across the United States. Regarding the broader market, we do not expect much substantial movement from the market today, given that the session will be truncated the markets will close at 1:00 PM, and trading volume could be much lighter than usual today.
Value Line wishes you and yours a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Holidays.
The stock market performed well yesterday but started the day with an initial decline. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence for December pulled back a bit (from 112.8 to 104.7), while durable goods orders declined 1.1% year over year in November. The major market indices initially fell on this news. However, the indices started to rebound in the morning following the release of increasing new home sales in November, which expanded to 664,000 annualized from 627,000 the month prior. The major market indexes then moved upward throughout the day and ended not too far from the daily highs.
That said, trading volume was low. Overall, the S&P 500 increased 43 points (up 0.73%), the NASDAQ rose 192 points (up 0.98%), and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was higher by 67 points (up 0.16%). Overall, market breadth was quite even, with neither advancers nor decliners leading by a large amount. Technology issues were amongst the best performers on the day, while consumer staples issues were amongst the weakest.
In commodity news, oil prices rose yesterday, as sentiment improved for demand. China reportedly sold $410 billion in bonds, and those proceeds are expected to be utilized to stimulate its economy and drive further oil demand in the coming months. Elsewhere, U.S. Treasury bond yields were mixed, with short-term rates falling and those with longer durations rising. This steepening of the yield curve is usually a positive for financial firms, which borrow short and lend long. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, or VIX, commonly known as the fear index fell throughout the day. It had substantially jumped following the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decision but has been slowly declining since that initial move upward.
The schedule is relatively empty of economic reports in the days ahead. Initial jobless claims will be released on Thursday, while the advanced retail inventories for November are on the docket for Friday. Additionally, very few companies will report earnings results in the days ahead, and most of them are very small or foreign. That said, economic and earnings data releases will pick up in the coming weeks, as we head into the new year. - John E. Seibert III
At the time of this article’s writing, the author did not hold positions in any of the companies mentioned.
CLICK HERE for more information on our services or call 1-800-VALUELINE (1-800-825-8354). Our account managers are available Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM Eastern Time.
