Market

Pretty impressive move in the 10-year Treasury note yesterday; the yield jumped above 0.95% and is holding there this morning. That puts us back to nearly the highs we reached on election night. We haven't been above 1% since March. It wasn't just there that we saw some big bond-market moves; investors also piled into high-yield a.k.a. "junk" bonds and drove the yield on the Barclays' index down by the same amount as Treasury yields rose, about 10 basis points. That's a pretty big "risk-on" signal, as analyst Brian Reynolds of Reynolds Strategy pointed out; what's more, it's the second such day in a month of such combined moves (the first being Nov. 9th, on Pfizer's vaccine announcement). That means we've got a "cluster" now of risk-on credit days, which is historically a bullish thing. ...

After a down day for stocks in Wednesday's session, CNBC's Jim Cramer said the market is giving investors a chance to buy individual stocks now that Wall Street has broken away from the "tyranny of the index funds." "There's been a move to own individual stocks led by younger, often novice investors who've been captivated by a world of commission-free trading," the "Mad Money" host said. "It took me a little while to realize it, but the no-commissions — it's been revolutionary." The comments came after stocks traded lower for the second day in a row, with the Dow and S&P 500 pulling back from record levels as state and local governments put new restrictions in place to mitigate the second wave of the coronavirus and researchers continued to post optimistic results from late-stage vaccine...

WASHINGTON: The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell only slightly last week, adding to signs that the economic recovery was losing steam as the COVID-19 pandemic intensifies and fiscal stimulus ends. The economy could be plunged into a period of uncertainty following Tuesday's presidential election, potentially undermining business investment and delaying a much-needed second coronavirus relief package from the government. Democrat Joe Biden edged closer to victory on Thursday (Nov 5), while President Donald Trump alleged fraud without providing evidence, filing lawsuits and calling for recounts in a race yet to be decided two days after polls closed. "It looks like a second wave of layoffs is hitting the economy perhaps due to the rising count of vi...

People pass by the exterior of New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on November 4, 2020 in New York. Kena Betancur | AFP | Getty Images By now, "2020" has become four-digit shorthand for the unprecedented, unsettling and unbelievable. Yet in the markets, from point to point, this year has been surprisingly normal for a buy-and-close-your-eyes investor. After last week's tension-release rally, the S&P 500 has posted an annualized gain of about 10% for 2020, or 12% or so including dividends, right in line with the historical yearly average. For investors in a traditional balanced portfolio of 60% stocks and 40% bonds, the returns are almost the same – a bit better than the long-term average for this strategy, but not by much. Now, sure, the path has been wild. Since the year began, the S&P 500 we...