“It’s A Wrap” Vista Partners Daily Market Recap For December 31, 2019

I hope all of you have a wonderful New Years’ Eve celebration ahead of you tonight!

Yes, it is also officially time to put a bow on trading the broad markets for 2019 as it is a wrap as of 4ET today. And what a tastefully good present this year was as the S&P 500 advanced +28.9% YTD, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up +22.3% YTD, the Nasdaq Composite closed up +35.2%, and the Russell 2000 ended up +23.7%. Highly weighted tech giant Apple, Inc. (AAPL) closed the year at $293.65/share representing an amazing +86.2% gain over the course of the year.

On the day, the S&P 500 ended at 3,230.78, +.29% as all 11 S&P 500 sectors finished in the green and the materials (+.8%) & energy (+.7%) sectors led the charge.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended at 28,538.44, +.27%.

The Nasdaq Composite ended at 8,972.60, +.30%.

The Russell 2000 moved higher by +.26% ending at 1668.47.

The “fear gauge” Vix (TVIX) ended down sharply at $51.32/share -8.11%.

On New Year’s Day, the stock & bond market will be closed. Otherwise, they are open during normal hours the balance of the holiday week.

Economic Reports

On Monday, the total durable goods report confirmed a drop by -2% in November below the 1.5% expected rate. However, new home sales in November surprisingly rose +1.3% month/month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 719k units while on a year/year basis new home sales are now up +16.9%. The median new-home price jumped +7.2% to $330,800 in November.

On Tuesday the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index report showed a drop to 126.5 in December. The FHFA Housing Price Index Report for October rose by +.2%. The S&P Case-Shiller Housing Price Index for October rose by +2.2%.

On Wednesday, nothing will be reported on New Years Day.

Investing & Inspiration

“I rarely think the market is right. I believe non-dividend stocks aren’t much more than baseball cards. They are worth what you can convince someone to pay for it.” -Mark Cuban

“Michael Marcus taught me one other thing that is absolutely critical: You have to be willing to make mistakes regularly; there is nothing wrong with it. Michael taught me about making your best judgment, being wrong, making your next best judgment, being wrong, making your third best judgment, and then doubling your money.” -Bruce Kovner

“The policy of being too cautious is the greatest risk of all.” -Jawaharlal Nehru

“The only true test of whether a stock is “cheap” or “high” is not its current price in relation to some former price, no matter how accustomed we may have become to that former price, but whether the company’s fundamentals are significantly more or less favorable than the current financial-community appraisal of that stock.” -Philip Fisher

Tomorrow

On Wednesday, New Year’s Day, the stock & bond market will be closed and we will not receive any significant economic reports. Otherwise, they are open during normal hours the balance of the holiday week.

President Trump stated that the Phase One deal for the US-China trade war is to be signed at the White House on Jan. 15, 2020. He also stated that he will travel to Beijing for Phase Two talks sometime after the signing.

On Thursday investors will receive the following significant economic data:

• The Weekly Initial Claims
• The Continuing Claims

Here are three trading ideas to check out:

• Acorda Therapeutics (ACOR) which closed at $2.04/share,  but recently announced a $276M exchange of convertible senior debt that moved maturity out to in 2024.

•  Aduro Biotech, Inc. (ADRO) closed at $1.18/share today and has interesting data points due in the 1st half 2020.

• Neubase Therapeutics (NBSE) closed trading at $7.20/share today and expects several data points to be released in the 1st half of 2020 with regard to their gene silencing platform that is initially targeting HD and ALS.