November 30, 2021

Markets:

Stock futures dropped on Tuesday as volatility resumed after a brief rebound earlier this week, with investors contemplating the impacts of a new coronavirus variant. 

The reversal came after Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel told the Financial Times that he expects existing vaccines to be less effective against the new variant. The CEO told the paper there could be a “material drop” in the current vaccines’ effectiveness against this variant. Bancel told CNBC on Monday that it could take months to develop and ship an omicron-specific vaccine.

The latest commentary on the variant at least momentarily overtook investors' optimism over remarks Monday from the White House, when President Joe Biden said Omicron was "not a cause for panic." Biden said he intended to announce the White House's strategy for addressing coronavirus this winter later this week, and that this plan would not include lockdowns, but would instead emphasize vaccinations, boosters and testing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday updated its guidance to say all individuals aged 18 and older "should" get a booster coronavirus vaccine, strengthening this from previous language primarily aimed at getting those considered most at risk an additional dose of the shots. 

The 10-year Treasury yield fell further below 1.45% as investors worried about the economy slowing because of the new variant. The 10-year rate lost 9 basis points to 1.44% (1 basis point equals 0.01%). The yield on the 10-year Treasury was as high as 1.69% last week before Friday’s drop below 1.5%.

Portfolio:

We had an extremely busy session yesterday and we enter another session filled with volatility and opportunity!  Welcome this!  It only paves the way for further opportunity in the months to come.  We enter the new session holding positions in PSTG, AEHR, APRN, VALE, F, SKLZ and continue to hold ITRM.  Queue remains active and this is great sign.  The last few months have been outstanding but we now feel we are positioning ourselves with this market to have an even greater period ahead.  Let's have a great session and continue to build!