Equity Clock

Stock Market Outlook for December 18, 2020

Non-seasonally adjusted, initial claims are hovering around the highest levels since August, but is this something to be concerned of?

 

 

 

*** Stocks highlighted are for information purposes only and should not be considered as advice to purchase or to sell mentioned securities.   As always, the use of technical and fundamental analysis is encouraged in order to fine tune entry and exit points to average seasonal trends.

Stocks Entering Period of Seasonal Strength Today:

Subscribers – Click on the relevant link to view the full profile. Not a subscriber? Signup here.

Titanium Corp. Inc. (TSXV:TIC.V) Seasonal Chart

CVS Health Corp. (NYSE:CVS) Seasonal Chart

Westpac Banking Corp. (NYSE:WBK) Seasonal Chart

Petroleo Brasileiro (Petrobras) (NYSE:PBR) Seasonal Chart

US Concrete, Inc. (NASD:USCR) Seasonal Chart

Cooper Cos. Inc. (NYSE:COO) Seasonal Chart

InterRent Real Estate Investment Trust (TSE:IIP/UN.TO) Seasonal Chart

Valeura Energy Inc. (TSE:VLE.TO) Seasonal Chart

Reliance Steel & Aluminum (NYSE:RS) Seasonal Chart

Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV) Seasonal Chart

Magellan Aerospace Corp. (TSE:MAL.TO) Seasonal Chart

Suncor Energy, Inc. (NYSE:SU) Seasonal Chart

Photon Control Inc. (TSE:PHO.TO) Seasonal Chart

Baker Hughes Company (NYSE:BKR) Seasonal Chart

iShares Jantzi Social Index ETF (TSE:XEN.TO) Seasonal Chart

BMO Junior Gas Index ETF (TSE:ZJN.TO) Seasonal Chart

DoubleLine Opportunistic Credit Fund (NYSE:DBL) Seasonal Chart

VanEck Vectors Unconventional Oil & Gas ETF (AMEX:FRAK) Seasonal Chart

VanEck Vectors Oil Services ETF (NYSE:OIH) Seasonal Chart

Invesco Dynamic Energy Exploration & Production ETF (NYSE:PXE) Seasonal Chart

SPDR Dow Jones International Real Estate ETF (NYSE:RWX) Seasonal Chart

Invesco Municipal Opportunity Trust (NYSE:VMO) Seasonal Chart

Invesco Senior Income Trust (NYSE:VVR) Seasonal Chart

SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (NYSE:XOP) Seasonal Chart

 

 

The Markets

Stocks closed at record highs on Thursday as investors continued to monitor stimulus negotiations amongst lawmakers, as well as anticipated news from the FDA regarding Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine.  The S&P 500 Index gained just less than six-tenths of one percent, inching past the previous record closing high set on December 8th at 3702.  The benchmark is now just 2% away from our upside target of 3800, derived from the breakout of the 300-point trading range between 3200 and 3500.  Short-term support to this market remains apparent at the 20-day moving average, while intermediate downside risks remain to the 50-day, now at 3542.  Momentum indicators have begun to curl higher again, continuing to show characteristics of a bullish trend.

Today, in our Market Outlook to subscribers, we discuss the following:

• Further monitoring of the price action of the S&P 500 Index from an hourly perspective
• Jobless claims and what they have to say about the state of the economic recovery
• Natural gas inventories and our stance on the price of the commodity
• US Housing Starts and how to gain exposure to the fundamental trends that are playing out in this segment of the economy
• Sentiment of manufacturers in the last month of the year
• An update to the trade in precious metals

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On the economic front, a report on housing starts in the US was released before Thursday’s opening bell.  The headline print of November’s report indicated that activity increased by 1.2% last month to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 1.547 million.  Analysts were expecting that starts would see a slight uptick of 0.1% to 1.53 million.  Stripping out the adjustments, starts actually declined by 10.6% in November, which is stronger than the 12.8% decline that is average for this time of year.  The year-to-date change is now higher by 8.5% through the eleven months ending in November, which is a mere 4.3% below the seasonal average trend.  The pace remains the weakest since 2009.  We sent out further insight to subscribers intraday, breaking down what this means and how to profit from it.  Subscribe now.

Sentiment on Thursday, as gauged by the put-call ratio, ended bullish at 0.69.

 

 

 

 

 

Seasonal charts of companies reporting earnings today:

 

 

S&P 500 Index

 

 

TSE Composite

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