Vista Partners Daily Market Recap For December 30, 2019

The broad markets received some economic data today, but little else came forth and the markets sold off throughout. The Pending Home Sales Report showed a +1.2% move higher in November. The Advance Report for International Trade in Goods for November also surfaced and confirmed a deficit of $63.2B Vs. $66.8B in October while the Advance Report for Retail Inventories for November dropped by -.7%, and the Advance Report for Wholesale Inventories for November was flat. News from the US-China trade war saga was relatively subdued today.

As a result, the S&P 500 ended the day at 3,221.29, -.58% as all 11 S&P 500 sectors finished in the red.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended at 28,6462.14, -.64%.

The Nasdaq Composite ended at 8,945.99, -.67%.

The Russell 2000 moved lower by -.29% ending at 1664.15.

The “fear gauge” Vix (TVIX) ended at $55.85/share. +7.05%.

The stock market is open for regular trading on New Year’s Eve: Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2019. However, the bond market closes early, at 2 p.m. ET. New Year’s Day is a stock market holiday. The bond market is also closed on Wednesday. Otherwise they are open during normal hours the balance of the 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 investors will receive the S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index for October, the FHFA Housing Price Index for October, and the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index for December on Tuesday.

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

Tomorrow

On Tuesday investors will receive the following significant economic data:

• S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index for October
• The FHFA Housing Price Index for October
• The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index for December

The stock market is open for regular trading on New Year’s Eve: Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2019. However, the bond market closes early, at 2 p.m. ET. New Year’s Day is a stock market holiday. The bond market is also closed on Wednesday. Otherwise they are open during normal hours the balance of the week.

Here are three trading ideas to check out tomorrow that is not for the faint of heart:

• Acorda Therapeutics (ACOR) which closed at $2.19/share, -16.41% but recently announced a $276M exchange of convertible senior debt that moved maturity out to in 2024.
•  Aduro Biotech, Inc. (ADRO) whih closed at $1.19/share today and has interesting data points due in 1st half 2020.
• Molecular Data INC. (MKD) which is bouncing around post its IPO today ($5.38/share, ~$61.87M raise) closing at $5.46/share, +1.49% after hitting an intraday high of $11.90/share.