Yahoo Finance Amazon to Santa Claus: You can finally retire
By Alan Valdes, director of floor operations at Silverbear Capital
Santa no longer needs a chimney to deliver those gifts this Christmas. All he needs is an internet connection! Yesterday, Cyber Monday, was the biggest online shopping day in history. As of 10:00 p.m. last night, Adobe Insights projected those on-line sales to top $6.59 billion. This was an increase of 16% from last year. Mobile device sales exploded to the upside totaling more than $5.23 billion, which is up over 17% from last year. Desktop computers seem to be going the way of black-and-white TVs as sales were not that strong. This year’s “must-have” items are Nintendo Switch, Hatchimals, L.O.L. Surprise, and Ride On Cars.
It’s shaping up to be a busy day for traders with a slew of economic news. They will be watching confirmation hearings from Washington, D.C. on the Fed chair nominee, Jerome Powell. Traders don’t see much of a problem with this appointment, as he has a carbon copy of outgoing Fed Chair Yellen’s policies and agenda.
In economic news, the Case-Shiller Home Price Index rose 6.2% in September, the fastest increase in three years. The big surprise this morning came from consumer confidence. That number has come in the strongest in 17 years, with a reading of 129.5, beating expectations of 124. Consumers were also spending some of their money confidently in the traditional brick-and-mortar stores. Kohl’s (KSS) had a record-breaking weekend with store sales, JCPenney (JCP) reported both in-store and on-line sales that were its best of the year, and Macy’s (M) reported selling more than one million coats, sweaters and fleece jackets over the weekend.
At some point, this market may take a breather and slow down a tad. But it does not appear like today will be that day. As I am writing, the markets are, again, hitting all-time highs, and it looks like they want to continue their winning ways until New Year’s Eve. With the prospect of tax cuts looking more and more likely, 2018 could be another great year for investors.
