Traders react after the closing bell on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., December 13, 2023.
Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters
Markets extend streak
U.S. markets mostly rose Monday, raising hopes major indexes could extend their winning streak to an eight straight week. Europe’s Stoxx 600 index lost 0.27%, although oil and gas stocks rose 1.16% on the back of rising oil prices. Germany’s DAX fell 0.6% as the country’s business sentiment unexpectedly fell in December.
Shipping supply snarls
Amid a series of attacks on vessels by Houthi militants from Yemen, BP’s the latest firm to halt shipment across the Suez Canal. BP joins shipping giants MSC, Hapag-Lloyd, CMA CGM and Maersk in suspending travel through the Red Sea. Oil prices rose more than 1% as those stoppages raised concerns of a disruption to the global supply chain — avoiding the Suez Canal adds up to 14 days to a shipping route.
Adobe and Figma break up
Adobe and Figma have called off their planned $20 billion merger, the companies announced Monday, citing regulatory hurdles. “There is no clear path to receive necessary regulatory approvals from the European Commission and the UK Competition and Markets Authority,” the companies said in a statement. Adobe will pay Figma a $1 billion breakup fee, the Photoshop maker said in a regulatory filing.
Apple stops watch sales
Apple will pause U.S. sales of its Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 — its latest watch models — in its online stores starting Thursday, and in-person after Sunday. The decision comes after an intellectual property dispute between Apple and Masimo, a medical technology company, over the watches’ Blood Oxygen feature.
[PRO] Goldman revises forecast
Goldman Sachs’ been one of the most bullish on Wall Street in terms of its forecasts — and the bank’s living up to that reputation by raising its 2024 forecast for the S&P 500 before the year’s even ended. The investment bank now sees the broad-based index hitting 5,100 next year because of how dramatically market conditions changed just last week.
There’s no stopping the market. Fresh off seven straight weeks of gains, major indexes mostly rose Monday as they attempted to maintain their momentum.
History is on the side of markets. Of the 20 times since 1964 the S&P 500 has had seven weeks of gains, the index extended the rally to the eighth week 12 times, noted Chris Larkin, managing director at E-Trade from Morgan Stanley.
The S&P 500 gained 0.45% to close at 4,740.56, putting it just 1.2% away from its all-time closing high at 4,796.56 in January 2022. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.61%, its eighth positive session in a row. The Dow Jones Industrial Average remained unchanged — well, if we want to split hairs, technically the index gained 0.002%, furthering its streak and record close.
Some stock movements of note: Meta popped almost 3% and is up 186% year to date, on pace for its best year ever. U.S. Steel shares surged 26.09% after Japan’s Nippon Steel agreed to buy the company for $14.9 billion in cash.
Adding to market cheer is Goldman Sachs’ optimistic forecast for the pace of rate cuts next year. “We see the committee delivering at least three back-to-back 25bp cuts, probably in March, May, and June,” Jan Hatzius, chief economist at Goldman Sachs, said in a note to clients.
But Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee’s confused by market reaction to the Fed meeting last week. “It’s not what you say, or what the chair says. It’s what did they hear, and what did they want to hear,” Goolsbee said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
“I was confused a bit — was the market just imputing, here’s what we want them to be saying?”
It’s undeniable markets have a mind of their own and can, at times, seem disconnected from reality — or even create their own reality. But with such strong momentum, “the burden of proof is absolutely on the bears here,” as Jeff deGraaf, the CEO and chairman of Renaissance Macro, put it.
