It will likely be a November to remember this year, not only for the highly anticipated Trump-Biden election but for the action in the U.S. stock market.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 are on track to register the best November percentage gain since 1928, as tracked by the Dow Jones Market Data Group rising 12.86% and 11.27%, respectively. The Nasdaq Composite is on pace to rise 11.86%, the best November since 2001.
Recovering energy stocks, which have gained 33.7% through Friday, are on pace for a record month as West Texas Intermediate crude oil sits at the $45 per barrel level.
Financials and industrials are also seeing solid gains, tracking for the best month since April of 2009. While consumer staples are pacing for the strongest since October 2000 as consumers load up on paper towels, disinfectant wipes and toilet paper.
A big portion of the push for U.S. stocks in recent weeks, Moody’s Analytics chief markets economist John Lonski tells FOX Business, is optimism for a COVID-19 vaccine.
“This recession was entirely about COVID-19 and if you can develop a vaccine for COVID-19 and get it distributed rapidly enough, you are going to have a V-shaped recovery, you are going to have real economic growth in 2021 of perhaps 4.5% if not a little bit higher,” said Lonski.
Other investors point to speculation that former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will officially become President-elect Joe Biden’s choice for U.S. treasury secretary.
Investors believe Yellen is market-friendly because she likely supports further stimulus, has experience in handling financial crisis’, including emerging from the 2008 downturn, and of course her Fed experience.
DOW DELIVERS 30K
The shortened Thanksgiving holiday week, for the first time ever, delivered Dow 30,000, before pulling back slightly.
Still, the move, which took 218 trading days since the last 1,000 point milestone, mid-January, gave investors a clue as to what may be a shift from growth stocks to value plays.
BIGGEST POINT GAINERS FROM 29K TO 30K
While Microsoft and Apple were the leading point gainers for the 1,000-point milestone.
United Health, Honeywell, Walmart, Nike and Caterpillar were close behind as tracked by Dow Jones Market Data Group.