📈 Wall St to end 2023 on high note

☕️ Good morning.

The Fast Five → Affirm’s stock quintupled this year beating all tech peers, 2023 corporate sector sees worst collapse since pandemic, S&P 500 ekes out gains flirting with bull market confirmation, Google settles $5B lawsuit alleging Chrome's 'Incognito' mode tracks users, and Maine bars Trump from Presidential ballot…

Here’s your 5-min briefing for Friday - Have a wonderful, safe New Year! 🎉

BEFORE THE OPEN

MARKETS

Wall Street looks to end a winning year on a high note and possibly a new milestone…

• Stock futures steady, near year-end highs.

• S&P 500 eyes new record, up 24.6% in 2023.

• Nasdaq soars 44.2% this year, led by tech giants.

• Fed's rate hike pause boosts investor confidence.

• Broader market rally in Q4, Dow hits multiple records.

• Historic year-end rally suggests more potential gains.

EARNINGS

The earnings calendar is bare between Christmas and New Year's, picking back up the first week of January with Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) among the handful of names reporting.

In the following week (January 8-12), major banks will take the spotlight as the fourth-quarter earnings season begins. Stay tuned for our earnings outlook in next week's briefing.

• Full calendar here

NEWS BRIEFING

Affirm’s Stock Quintupled This Year, Beating All Tech Peers, on Buy Now, Pay Later Boom

Death by Bankruptcy: 2023 US Corporate Sector Sees Worst Collapse Since Pandemic

• Mortgage rates in US fall to lowest since May, dropping to 6.61% (link)

• S&P 500 ekes out meager gains, flirts with bull market confirmation (link)

• Global dealmaking drops below $3T for first time since 2013 (link)

• Google settles $5B consumer privacy lawsuit (link)

• Apple is being overtaken by Chinese smartphone rivals - in cars (link)

• Bridgewater CEO’s past office romance led to favoritism claims (link)

• L’Oreal heir Francoise Bettencourt Meyers becomes first woman with $100B fortune (link)

• Elon Musk’s X fails to block California’s content moderation law (link)

• Soft landing talk prompts 1990s flashbacks (link)

• Argentina’s top unions call strike against Milei’s reforms (link)

• Biden struggles to push trade deals with allies as election approaches (link)

• China’s Xiaomi unveils its first EV as it looks to compete with Porsche, Tesla (link)

• Electric car companies from China are flocking to Hong Kong (link)

• Rate cuts may offer a lifeline for highly indebted companies (link)

• Boeing urges inspections of 737 Max planes for ‘possible loose bolt’ (link)

• A top Penn Entertainment shareholder seeks board seats (link)

• Nvidia’s China customers to get hobbled version of gaming chip (link)

• Maine becomes second state to bar Trump from 2024 primary ballot (link)

CRYPTO

• India is moving to block local access to crypto exchanges including Binance, KuCoin, Huobi, and Kraken which it says are operating illegally there (link)

• Cathie Wood’s ARK Next Generation Internet ETF exited its remaining position in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust due to ETF uncertainty and purchased a stake in the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (link)

• Binance’s user base grew 30% in 2023 even after US legal settlements (link)

BULLISH BITES

🍃 Tea leaves: More than 40 investors share their top predictions for 2024.

💄 L’ucky: L’Oreal heir Francoise Bettencourt Meyers becomes first woman with $100 billion fortune.

🛟 529 ➜ Roth: One of the ‘significant objection’ to 529 plans will go away Jan. 1. ‘This is a big deal,’ expert says.

🤥 Little big lies: Fake reviews are a multibillion-dollar quicksand — here’s how to avoid getting sucked in.

FEATURED TRADES

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL) - Long - Virginia Investing Challenge (1st Place)

PayPal is a multinational financial technology company that facilitates digital payments for customers ranging from individuals to large enterprises, with notable services including its core branded check-out and the popular payments gateway platform Braintree, which includes Venmo.

Ticker: PYPL | Price: $63.21 | Price Target: $110 (+74%) | Timeframe: 2028

📱 Fintech | 🔄 Turnaround | 📈 Bullish Idea

Read the full article here. Read time: 3 min

DAILY SHARES

Keep the curation going! Buy the team a coffee ☕️

Advertise With Us