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By Matthew Klein |
Friday, February 12 Happy
New Year! Markets were closed across
much of Asia in celebration of the start of the lunar year of the Metal Ox,
which began on Friday. The ox is a hardworking animal, so this is
traditionally believed to be a year when effort and exertion will be
rewarded. According to
The
Chinese Zodiac, “the year of the Metal Ox brings career
advancement, success in business, prosperity, and wellness for all zodiac
signs.” Even better for investors, this should be a year when “no explosive
or catastrophic events will occur.” And for those in Congress and the White
House thinking about how to budget, this is supposed to be “a favorable year
for economic recovery [and] a year of long-term investments.” While many Asian
markets were closed, markets in America and Europe seem to share the bullish
sentiment. The S&P 500 index of large
U.S. companies hit its tenth record of 2021, gaining 0.5%, while the Russell
2000 small-cap index was up 0.2%. With the
exception of utilities, which were down, and real estate, which was flat,
every sector within the S&P was up, led by energy, financials, and
materials. Outside of the U.S., Canada’s TSX was up 0.4%,
hitting a new high, while the Stoxx Europe
600 index was up 0.7% and the FTSE
100 was up 0.9%. Oil rose
more than 2% on the day while copper continued its relentless ascent to hit
its highest level since October 2012. Silver was up 1%, while gold continued
to edge lower after peaking in August. Consistent with the improvement in
economic sentiment and the normalization of the inflation outlook,
longer-term interest rates also edged up, with the 30-year Treasury bond
settling above the 2% threshold for the first time since February 2020. Underlying
the bullishness have been two fundamental factors: the cresting of America’s
third wave of the coronavirus—the pace
of new confirmed cases is down by roughly 60% since the peak
at the beginning of the year—and the increasingly likelihood that Congress
will pass some big spending bills that should turbocharge the recovery.
Should either of those fundamental drivers change, market prices could
follow. Watch our
weekly TV show on Fox Business Friday at 10 p.m. ET or 11:30 p.m.; Saturday
at 10 a.m. or 11:30 a.m. ET; or Sunday at 8:30 a.m., 10 a.m., or 11:30 a.m.
This week, see interviews with Brian Niccol,
CEO of Chipotle, and John
Streur, CEO of Calvert,
which provides the data behind Barron's Most Sustainable Companies list. |
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DJIA: +0.09% to 31,458.40 The Hot
Stock: Illumina +11.9% Best Sector:
Energy +1.5% |
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