Monday's Market Minute: Indices & Coronavirus On The Rise Into Year's End

We begin this week much like how we ended last week, with investors focused on indices into or near all-time highs, coronavirus numbers on the rise, ecodata, and recent price activity in bitcoin, gold, and oil. We should begin with the U.S. indices at or near all-time highs, as well as global indices with the MSCI world index gaining 13% in November. Last week we saw new record levels in small-caps and the Dow, with the move higher coming on optimism related to coronavirus vaccine news. Investors continue to focus on retailers and holiday shopping numbers, which seem to be somewhat mixed headed into this Cyber Monday. Meanwhile, Black Friday in-store shopping fell more than 50%, while online spending surged 21.6% to hit a new record with $9 billion dollars spent online by consumers the day after Thanksgiving, according to data from Adobe Analytics. With coronavirus numbers on the rise, there are some concerns related to what Dr. Anthony Fauci said as we head into December – a surge superimposed on the surge we are already in. Crude oil prices are lower today with OPEC’s informal meeting unable to produce a consensus agreement on further production cuts. The meeting continues today, as the WTI contract recently surged to multi-month highs with expectations cuts will remain. We also have some closely watched economic data this week, but most important for investors will be the Jobs report on Friday.