Can you feel the holiday cheer spreading across Main Street? I know I can practically hear the sleigh bells ringing! Wall Street is also beginning to be in better spirits, too. The reality is we’re in the seasonally strong time of year for the stock market. We saw this start in November, which tends to be the seasonally strongest month for the stock market.
Some of this strength came on the heels of record holiday sales. Take Black Friday, for example. Consumers spent a stunning $9 billion online — a new Black Friday record — up from $7.4 billion last year. According to Adobe Analytics, that’s the second-largest online shopping day ever. Interestingly, this past November was also a new record for mobile sales, which accounted for nearly 40% of the revenue for online spending over the course of the month.
On Thanksgiving, consumers spent $5.1 billion, 21.5% higher than last year. So, when you tally it all up, consumers spent $14.1 billion in just two days!
So, what about Cyber Monday, you ask? Well, this online shopping day also broke records — bringing in $10.8 billion. Not only did this beat Black Friday, but it also topped the $10.4 billion Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) scored during Amazon Prime Day this year. This means that this year’s Cyber Monday was the largest online shopping day on record!
Not to sound too much like a broken record (pun intended!), but clearly this holiday shopping season was one for the record books!
Looking forward, I expect the December rally to really rev up in the second half of the month. You see, as we move closer to the Christmas holiday, folks naturally cheer up, and this holiday spirit spreads to Wall Street.
In addition, the weak U.S. dollar may give some stocks a nice leg up, too. The U.S. dollar can positively or negatively impact earnings. Approximately half of the S&P 500’s sales are from outside the U.S, and when the U.S. dollar is weak it boosts both sales and earnings.
In other words, multinationals and international companies are usually the biggest beneficiaries of the weaker U.S. dollar, as it creates windfall profits.
That’s certainly been the case this year. A lot of big tech companies prospered thanks to the weak U.S. dollar in 2020. Case in point: The NASDAQ has soared 42% year-to-date. In comparison, the S&P 500 has only climbed about 15%, while the Dow is up about 6% so far this year.
So, if you invest in the right high-quality companies, then your portfolio is well-positioned to make windfall profits, too.
That’s just one of the catalysts InvestorPlace colleague Matt McCall and I are positioning for in our Power Portfolio 2021, which, I might add, is already up over 3% as I write this.
Lock and Load Time
This last week before the holidays is the perfect time to “lock and load” for the next year. If you’re not sure where to look, then I encourage you to check out our Power Portfolio 2021.
Matt and I don’t want you to do “average” next year, we want you to bring in extraordinary returns.
So, the Power Portfolio 2021 is our exclusive guide for positioning your portfolio to take advantage of all next year will have to offer investors. We’ve honed in on 9 stocks we expect to crush the market and released all the names on Thursday.
If you’re interested in being a part of this exciting wealth-building journey, please click here. After you sign up, you’ll have full access to our full Power Portfolio 2021 Buy List, all of which are trekking higher already.
Note: The Editor hereby discloses that as of the date of this email, the Editor, directly or indirectly, owned the following securities that are the subject of the commentary, analysis, opinions, advice, or recommendations in, or which are otherwise mentioned in, the essay set forth below:
Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN)
Louis Navellier had an unconventional start, as a grad student who accidentally built a market-beating stock system — with returns rivaling even Warren Buffett. In his latest feat, Louis discovered the “Master Key” to profiting from the biggest tech revolution of this (or any) generation.
