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By Connor
Smith | Tuesday, December 28 Not So Fast. The S&P
500 seemed poised for its 70th record
close of 2021. Not today. Fresh off yet another record, the market
benchmark retreated suddenly in afternoon trading. It closed down 0.1%,
at 4,786.35 after setting an intraday high of 4,785.49. Of its 500
components, 305 rose while 192 fell. The remaining three remained unchanged. DexCom, Etsy, and Penn
National Gaming were the biggest laggards
of the group. The Dow
Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3%, to its second-highest close in
history. It's off 0.1% from its closing high of 36,432.22, set on Nov. 8. The
Dow has risen for five-straight trading days, gaining 4.2% along the
way. The Nasdaq Composite didn't fare so well, dropping 0.6%. It's off
1.7% from its Nov. 19 closing high. Fears about surging Covid-19 cases continued
to weigh on sentiment, though investors are far from panicking. Apple stock dropped 0.6% after the company closed
its New York City stores to window shoppers. The company said buy-online,
pick-up-in-store options will continue. The company's market
capitalization sits at $2.94 trillion. Investors are starting to bet that Covid-19
is becoming endemic, my Barron's colleagues Joe
Woelfel and Carleton
English write. “[Covid] is likely to
become endemic, meaning it will not totally disappear, nor does it need to
for some semblance of normality to return. It just needs to be defanged
enough to become a nuisance we can live, work and play with,” Michael Darda,
Chief Economist & Market Strategist at MKM Partners, wrote Tuesday. His statements echo
earlier comments made by Brian Vendig, president of MJP Wealth Advisors, a
wealth-management firm based in Westport, Conn. Vendig said that market gains
seen earlier in the week suggest the market is “confident that we can
overcome the near-term challenges from the Omicron variant.” Vendig said the market’s
focus in 2021 largely will remain the same next year, with investors
continuing to watch “the trajectory of the pandemic, supply-chain issues,
inflation and how the Federal Reserve plans to shape policy.” That could explain the Nasdaq's
decline and the S&P 500 technology sector falling 0.5%. Still, with global daily global Covid-19
cases at their highest levels since the start of the pandemic, per Bloomberg
data, it may be time to shelve those New Year's Eve party plans. There's
always the stock market; U.S. equity markets will still be open on Friday,
not observing New Year's this time around. Investors can thank NYSE
Rule 7.2. On the bright side: the three large indexes have an
extra day to break records before year-end. The clock is ticking. Barron's is now accepting nominations for the third
annual Barron's 100 Most Influential Women in U.S. Finance.
The deadline for submissions is Jan. 15, 2022. Apply here. |
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DJIA: +0.26% to
36,398.21 The Hot Stock: Campbell
Soup +2.8% Best Sector: Utilities +0.9% |
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