FEATURED (December 2020): As 2020 comes to a close, we are looking forward to a new year—and to a world very different from the one we’re leaving behind. December also brings our annual market outlook Outlook 2021: Powering Forward, which reviews what happened in 2020 and what to expect in 2021.
December is widely known as one of the best months of the year for stocks, but most don’t realize that the majority of the gains happen in the second half of the month.
2020 was a tumultuous year. We likely had the shortest recession ever and began a new economic expansion. Small business and effective COVID-19 vaccines hold the key to continued economic growth in 2021.
As 2020 comes to a close and we look forward to 2021, we take a look at what we can expect in the stock and bond markets, the economy, and a new post-election policy environment in 2021.
The pace of US jobs growth slowed further in November, adding fuel to what’s been borne out by recent high-frequency data: The economic recovery is increasingly cooling in the face of rising COVID-19 cases and renewed lockdowns.
Better than expected earnings, a likely split Congress, and major breakthroughs on vaccines all helped stocks soar last month.
Increasing COVID-19 cases in Europe and the United States have brought new restrictions. The stock market doesn’t appear fazed by the recent outbreaks, but underlying economic data is beginning to reflect the latest government and consumer shutdowns.
As 2020 winds down, it has been an extremely tough year on all of us. Still, there are many reasons to be thankful and today we will share some reasons investors should be thankful.
The reaction from stocks since the US election has been strong. The S&P 500 Index is up, and small caps have soared. Sentiment could be getting a little frothy as well, which may increase the odds of a pullback.
The US labor market shrugged off election uncertainty and continued to add jobs in October.
