Good morning. Stocks show a slight gain in this half-day session and the S&P hit another new high making for a joyous Christmas for many investors. But in the face of Fed uncertainty … where internal battles are becoming increasingly public … will these gains hold up in the weeks ahead? Sam Stovall, of CFRA Research, was on YahooTV this morning and said that he still sees upward movement in equities next year … but gave the view that some investors might be waiting until the first days of January to take gains (pushing due tax payments into 2027) … and feels the entire month of January, rather than the first few days, will be a better indicator of the year ahead. Yes, it seems tired investors are still at the party even though they face one difficulty … as the hardest decision is to remain invested when nothing feels comfortable. There have been a lot of reports recently claiming recent graduates are having difficulty finding employment so I don’t know how a plan by the administration will work for them … as a number of those with student loans “in default” will start to have a portion of their wages “garnished” … which will be quite difficult, I think, if there aren’t any wages to grab. It was in 1957 that the Soviets launched an artificial Earth satellite (Sputnik I) that led to the U.S. quickly joining … and excelling in … the “Space Race.” We might soon face another “Sputnik Moment” as Russia broadcasts a plan to put a nuclear power plant on the Moon … which will certainly speed up already-announced NASA plans to do the same. But we have enough problems here that need fixing as one company (per last story below) is planning to allow drivers to play video games. While the article doesn’t address this, you can be sure it will soon be considered that a car will drive itself while the person behind the wheel will be battling aliens. Great. What could possibly go wrong? That about wraps it up for me today. I had some other stuff, but a computer glitch this morning took too much time to fix and I want to get this out before the market closes at 1 PM. Besides … I just peeked and see that stocks … seconds ago … hit yet another high … so I’ll end it here … afraid I’ll jinx things. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas holiday and … amid all of today’s madness … don’t forget to play Powerball ($1.7 billion) … and remember me if you do happen to win. Please. Have a great day, Joseph G. Witthohn, CFA Have any questions? Please contact info@teamemerald.com
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