Wall Street posts robust gains at close with boost from Nike, Micron, following Omicron slide

Yesterday I was trying to make a dramatic point about the power of single individuals for both good and harm, so deliberately did not point out that part of the day’s rout was more panic over Omicron.  Today we learned that Omicron, though spreading rapidly, appears to be not nearly as threatening as previously feared, that those who are fully vaccinated, though there may be many breakthrough infections, have little to fear in terms of hospitalization and death. So today all the indexes soared as the recovery stocks such as energy and travel all were top percentage gainers.  As today's expert put it, "We're going to be able to ride through this Omicron surge and come out the other side in pretty good shape."  The S&P is again up nearly 24% for the year with just a handful of trading days left.  Volume was 10.1 billion, below the 4-week average. 

Wall Street skids on Omicron worry, hit to U.S. investment bill

So this is what happens when a certain U.S. Senator withdraws his support from a crucial bill.  The Dow and Nasdaq drop like stones (attributed by Wall Street analysts to this man), Goldman Sachs trims it 2022 GDP forecast after his comments. The economic recovery groups take the biggest declines including financials and materials. Investors go on defense putting money into the safe sectors of consumer staples, real estate, and utilities.  11.4 billion shares change hands in this wild sell off.  One man did all this.  What will tomorrow bring? 

7 Best Stocks to Buy Now With $1,000

For the final Sunday before the holidays begin I submit this week's edition of U.S. News Invested with their recommendations of the best stocks that can be purchased right now for a thousand dollars or less.  Hope everyone enjoyed the weekend.  

Great Investor Stocks

This week's edition of Wealthtrack is particularly appropriate coming into the holidays as she interviews Bill Miller, head of Miller Value Partners.  He discusses his own holdings, particularly in bitcoin (a subject that remains a complete mystery to me) but also focusing on the current market in general and the  values he's finding in it.  Tomorrow, I will present an article from U.S. News Invested about the best stocks to be buying for 2022.  Enjoy the rest of the weekend.  It's going to be sunny tomorrow. 

S&P 500 ends down after mostly negative week

The third day after the Fed announcement and investors are still digesting the impact of the end of bond buying and the start of new rate hikes resulting in another day of losses in all three indexes, and with Pfizer forecasting an extension of the pandemic, the cyclical Dow stocks got hit particularly hard.  The Omicron news was also not good with the new variant now determined to be 5 times more contagious than the already super-contagious delta, and the vaccines being less effective against it.  It all added up to more uncertainty than is usual for this already uncertain market.  But chin up.  This happens practically every day now.  One day there is optimism, the next fear.  Volume was way up due to options expirations so Monday will tell the true story. 

Nasdaq ends sharply lower as investors dump growth stocks

Yesterday there was elation when the Fed announced the end of bond buying and the start of rate hikes, all in the interest of taming inflation, something investors very much wanted.  Today the markets took more time to digest the reality that rate hikes would impact the tech stocks and thus there was a sweeping exodus away from tech and back towards value. A more hawkish Fed and continued pandemic fears translates to a lot of uncertainty going into 2022.  The good news is that the S&P is still up 25% for the year and the VIX has dropped to a 3-week low.  Volume came in at 11.9 billion. 

Wall St ends higher; Fed to end bond purchases in March

The news from the Fed today was even better than expected and all three indexes reacted with a huge rally bolstering the Dow 383 points and the Nasdaq 327.  The Fed will not begin tapering next year but will actually end the bond purchases in March and have not one but three rate hikes by the end of 2022.  This is what investors wanted as both moves will signal a normalization of inflation sooner rather than later. The S&P also had a sharp rise recovering almost all of its losses from earlier this week.  All the sectors, both value and growth, jumped with semiconductors leading the way at 3.7 percent.  Volume was a little above average at 12.2 billion.