November 25, 2024

Markets:

U.S. stock futures climbed Monday as Wall Street kicked off a shortened Thanksgiving trading week.

Wall Street is coming off a winning week as the postelection rally picked up again. The 30-stock Dow advanced around 2% last week and posted a record close on Friday. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite each rose about 1.7%. The small-cap Russell 2000 jumped roughly 4.5% during the week.

President-elect Donald Trump signaled his intention to nominate Key Square Group founder Scott Bessent as Treasury secretary. Investors viewed the pick favorably and see the hedge fund manager as someone who will be supportive of the equity market and who may help mitigate some of Trump’s most extreme protectionist policies.

Treasury yields pulled back slightly, and the U.S. dollar index decreased following the Bessent pick late Friday.

U.S. markets are closed Thursday due to the Thanksgiving holiday and close early on Friday, so trading volume is likely to be light this week.

Despite this week’s shortened trading week, the interest rate outlook is back in focus. In this vein, investors will monitor the release of October’s personal consumption expenditure price index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure, on Wednesday. Minutes from the Fed’s most recent policy meeting are also due out ahead of Thanksgiving.

Portfolio:

Monster opening for the week on tap and we are well positioned for it and also for whats building to end 2024.  Let's jump right into it.  Last week’s market action was defined by resilience, with the S&P 500 (SPX) recovering from prior pullbacks to close at 5962, up 1.5%. The dip-buying trend continued, reinforcing the bullish narrative. SPX held its 20-day SMA and reversed higher, setting the stage for a potential push toward 6,000 this week.  Our call if you remember is that we will test 6030 – 6040 range prior to year end.  A push towards 6100 is not out of the realm of possibilities. The Russell 2000 (RUT) showed similar price action, bouncing off its 20-day SMA and potentially gearing up for a retest of 2434, its three-year closing high.

Our focus this week will be momentum and sector rotation we are seeing.  We want to continue to position ourselves for the year end cycle while also pinpointing short term trading opportunities we will encounter over the next few weeks.  Thanksgiving week seasonality is historically bullish, with lighter volumes potentially amplifying market moves.  Please keep this in mind.

Top earning plays  we are watching this week; CRWD and DELL.

We enter this week holding setups in MARA, TSLL, NN, and GME.  Technically, outstanding setups in a number of these current names.  

Queue is igniting and we will be releasing new trades this week.  Let's have another monster week!