Stock Market News: 12-05-20
Dividend Investing, Medium-Term Horizon, Value
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Robert Hauver, MBA, was VP of Finance for an industry-leading corporation for 18 years, and publishes SA articles under the name DoubleDividendStocks. TipRanks rates DoubleDividendStocks in the Top 25 of all financial bloggers, and Seeking Alpha rates us in the Top 5 of several categories, including Dividend Ideas, Basic Materials, and Utilities.
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Summary
- The Energy sector had its 4th straight positive week, rising 13.46%.
- Employers added 245,000 jobs in November, much less than 432,000 forecasted by economists.
- All 4 indexes hit new highs on Friday.
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Market Indexes:
The market had another up week, with small caps and the NASDAQ leading the way, gaining over 2% on the week. There’s a wide margin year to date between the NASDAQ, which is up nearly 39%, and the DOW, which is up only 5.89%.
All 4 indexes hit new highs on Friday, for the 1st time since 2018, as news of revived stimulus talks lifted investors’ spirits, in spite of a weak Payrolls report. The COVID vaccine progress continued to lift the markets this week, even as the US faced rapidly increasing virus cases.
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Volatility: The VIX was flat this week, ending at $20.79.
High Dividend Stocks: These high dividend stocks go ex-dividend next week: CNQ, FANH, ECC, EIC, GBDC, FCBP, SFL.
Market Breadth: 22 out of 30 DOW stocks rose this week, vs. 23 last week. 72% of the S&P 500 rose, vs. 74% last week.
FOREX: The US $ fell vs. most major currencies again this week, except for the Yen.
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Economic News:“The American economic recovery continues to slow, stranding millions who have yet to find a new job after being thrown out of work by the coronavirus pandemic.The latest evidence came Friday when the Labor Dept. reported that employers added 245,000 jobs in November, the 5th month in a row that the pace of hiring has tapered off. The figure for October was revised downward to 610,000, from the initially stated 638,000.
The unemployment rate in November was 6.7 percent, down from the previous month’s rate of 6.9%. But that figure does not fully capture the extent of the joblessness because it doesn’t include people who have dropped out of the labor force and are not actively searching for work. November’s job totals were dragged down in part by the loss of 93,000 temporary census workers who are no longer needed now that the official counting has wound down.
More than half those knocked out of a job early in the pandemic have been rehired, but there are still roughly 10 million fewer jobs than there were in February. Many people in that group are weeks away from losing their unemployment benefits, as the emergency assistance approved by Congress last spring is set to expire at the end of the year.” (NY Times)“U.S. manufacturing activity slowed in November, with new orders retreating from their highest level in nearly 17 years, amid a resurgence in COVID-19 infections across the country.The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said on Tuesday its index of national factory activity dropped to a reading of 57.5 last month from of 59.3 in October, which had been the highest since November 2018. Manufacturing output is still about 5% below its pre-pandemic level, according to the Federal Reserve.” (Reuters)
“U.S. construction spending increased more than expected in October, boosted by solid gains in investment in both private- and public-sector projects.The Commerce Department said on Tuesday that construction spending jumped 1.3% in October.
Data for September was revised down to show construction outlays declining 0.5% instead of rising 0.3% as previously reported. Spending on private construction projects advanced 1.4%, fueled by investment in homebuilding amid record-low mortgage rates and a pandemic-driven migration to suburbs and low-density areas. Spending on residential projects shot up 2.9%.The fourth straight quarterly decline in spending on nonresidential structures bucked a rebound in overall business investment.” (Reuters)
(MarketWatch)
Week Ahead Highlights: We’ll get a look at how the US consumer is feeling on Friday, with the Consumer Sentiment Index. Consumer prices and credit reports will also be issued next week.
Next Week’s US Economic Reports: 
(MarketWatch)
Sectors: The Energy sector had its 4th straight positive week, rising 13.46%, and leading all sectors once again, with Utilities lagging. OPEC ministers agreed to raise production 500,000 barrels/day, which was much less than initially feared.
Futures: WTI rose 1.23% this week, ending at $46.09. Natural Gas fell 10.2%.
Analyst's Disclosure: I am/we are short CC Put options.
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