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Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq advance while yields slide to start holiday shortened week (0:25) J.P. Morgan’s top biotech picks and analyst focus list (2:10). Will gold rally pause? (3:45)
Transcript
Wall Street’s major market indices have kicked off the holiday-shortened trading week on a positive note as investors and traders process the latest developments surrounding President-elect Donald Trump’s appointment of Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary.
As the day progresses, the financial community has seen a positive shift in the blue-chip Dow (DJI) as the index advanced 0.9%. At the same time, the benchmark S&P 500 (SP500) has climbed up 0.2%, and the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite (COMP:IND) pushed up 0.1%.
From a sector-by-sector point of view, eight of the 11 S&P sectors find themselves moving higher with Consumer Discretionary and Real Estate leading the charge. In reverse, the worst performing sector on Wall Street so far has been the Energy sector.
U.S. Treasury yields have taken a leg lower to start the week with the shorter end more rate sensitive U.S. 2-Year Treasury yield (US2Y) down by 10 basis points to 4.27% and the longer end U.S. 10-Year Treasury yield (US10Y) down 13 basis points to 4.26%.
For more, see how Treasury yields have done across the curve on the Seeking Alpha bond page.
As Bitcoin (BTC-USD) continues to flirt with the $100K level, it was noted in a filing on Monday that MicroStrategy (MSTR) bought ~55,500 more bitcoins for ~$5.4B in the week of Nov. 18-24, a ~17% increase in its bitcoin holdings.
On Friday, after the U.S. market closed, media reports said that, President-elect Donald Trump will nominate hedge fund manager Scott Bessent to head up the Treasury Department under his new administration.
“Markets reacted positively to Trump nominating the financier Bessent as treasury secretary. Investors prefer orthodoxy, predictability, and coherence from economic policy; there were fears that some of the candidates may not possess those attributes. Bessent does,” UBS’ Paul Donovan said.
J.P. Morgan said its top biotech picks for 2025 were Vertex (NASDAQ:VRTX), Travere (NASDAQ:TVTX), SpringWorks (NASDAQ:SWTX), PTC Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTCT), Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE), Xenon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:XENE), Edgewise Therapeutics (NASDAQ:EWTX), Blueprint (NASDAQ:BPMC) and Roivant (NASDAQ:ROIV).
Look for a deeper dive into SpringWorks on today’s Investing Experts podcast with Jonathan Faison.
In November’s Sentiment Survey by Seeking Alpha’s Wall Street Breakfast, subscribers were asked to identify the most realistic alternative energy source in the U.S. Choices given were wind, solar, nuclear, geothermal and hydropower, but only one clear winner emerged from the poll with 72.8% of the vote.
The most popular reply from a total of 1,410 responses? Go nuclear.
It’s not surprising as the sector has recently experienced a wave of investment, especially from Big Tech, and might have more staying power this time around due to demand from artificial intelligence and data centers.
J.P. Morgan analysts updated their “Analyst Focus List” which targets growth, income, value, and short ideas.
Analysts added Tapestry (TPR), Alarm.com (ALRM), and Regency Centers (REG), while removing AbbVie (ABBV), Vera Therapeutics (VERA), CarMax (KMX), Entergy (ETR), and Bank of America (BAC).
Spot gold (XAUUSD:CUR) rose ~6% in the previous week, supported by safe-haven demand amid fears of an escalation in the war in Ukraine, and gained 31% this year. It was down -1.81% to $2,666.80 an ounce on Monday, pressured by profit-taking after a five-session rally.
Silver (XAGUSD:CUR) has also risen significantly this year following the gold price, trading almost 30% higher than at the beginning of 2024.
Macy’s (NYSE:M) is scheduled to announce Q3 earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th, before market open.
The consensus EPS Estimate is -$0.01 and the consensus Revenue Estimate is $4.72B (-2.9% Y/Y).
Over the last 2 years, M has beaten EPS estimates 100% of the time and has beaten revenue estimates 88% of the time.
On the economic calendar, The Chicago Fed national activity index sank deeper into the red in October.
Wall Street will have a shortened trading week due to the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, with markets also closing early on Friday.
Editor’s Note: This article discusses one or more securities that do not trade on a major U.S. exchange. Please be aware of the risks associated with these stocks.
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