Wednesday, December 30, 2020
Top Story
Home prices continue to climb. While some industries continue to struggle during the pandemic, housing data in the United States (US) remains a strong point of the US economy. Standard & Poor’s 20-city composite of home prices rose by the most since 2014 in October as the pandemic continues to steer consumer behavior toward single-family housing. We take a look at the boom in housing in today’s LPL Research blog.
Daily Insights
Stocks point higher. The S&P 500 Index opened modestly higher after Tuesday’s early strength was met with selling pressure as prospects for enhanced stimulus payments faded.
- European stocks are slightly lower in midday trading.
- Asian markets finished mixed, with the tech-heavy Hang Seng index
Economic roundup. The economic calendar for the holiday-shortened week includes:
- Wednesday: Wholesale Inventories (Nov.), Chicago Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI, Dec.), and Pending Home Sales (Nov.)
- Thursday: Initial Unemployment Claims
January 1, 2021: LPL Financial and the stock and bond markets will be closed on January 1.
Technical update. The Russell 2000 fell nearly 2% Tuesday, despite just modest losses for the large-cap indexes. Despite the drop, the Russell 2000 remains on track for not only its best quarter ever, but its best-ever quarter vs. large caps, outperforming the S&P 500 by more than 17% in Q4. Technicals suggest pullbacks in small-caps should be bought amid the strong uptrend and following the breakout above the 2018 highs at 1742.
COVID-19 news. The US reported 194,000 new COVID-19 cases yesterday (source: COVID Tracking Project), the first day above the 7-day average since December 26, perhaps suggesting holiday-related delays in testing and reporting data are passing.
- New daily hospitalizations have surpassed the 5,000 mark for the first time since December 18
- United Kingdom (UK) cases per million have once again surpassed the US as they continue to battle a more contagious strain of the virus
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