We’ve entered the final month of 2023, and fingers crossed stocks will have a great finish after a 8.9% jump in the S&P 500 in November. The market could get a lift from retail investors, the very folks who brought us meme stock mania more than two years ago. They were late to this rally and their initial hesitancy could fuel a continued buying spree, said Jason Goepfert, founder and senior analyst of Sundial Capital Research.
Decembers can be a mixed bag. Luckily, the benchmark index has risen almost 20% this year and it would take a massive decline for 2023 to not end in the black. “It’s a constant shifting back and forth between oversold and overbought conditions,” said Dan Suzuki, deputy chief investment officer at Richard Bernstein Advisors. If you bet against the market last month, you have my sympathy. Short-sellers were hammered with mark-to-market losses of over $80 billion, according to data from S3 Partners LLC.
Israel increased strikes on Hamas targets in the southern Gaza Strip, a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israel to do all it can to protect civilian lives. The switch in focus toward the densely-populated south followed the end of a week-long truce between Israel and Hamas. Israel acknowledged on Friday it needs to be careful about protecting civilians as the fighting resumed in Gaza, said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.
The world’s annual climate summit kicked off Thursday in the United Arab Emirates, yes, the same place that exports millions of barrels of crude oil every day. Maybe that’s a good thing: If the oil producers get serious about their contribution to our burning planet, we might at least see an end to methane emissions and gas flaring by the decade’s end.
Vice President Kamala Harris was in Dubai on Saturday to announce a US pledge of $3 billion toward a United Nations fund meant to help developing countries slash greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change. Meanwhile, Bloomberg Opinion’s Mark Gongloff questions whether the event justifies its estimated 70,000-plus turnout, including a record number of executives from banks such as Citigroup and HSBC.
While Idaho may be most famous for its delicious potatoes, the state is also home to America’s nuclear energy laboratory. In fact, almost every nuclear plant in the world today can trace its lineage back to Idaho National Laboratory’s sprawling 890-square-mile complex. Still, the recent cancelation of a major project at the site shows INL’s research prowess alone isn’t enough to ensure the industry will play a major role in combatting climate change, writes Bloomberg’s Will Wade.
Basketball fans have had reason to tune in sooner this year. The NBA has added a new wrinkle to its early season by dividing its 30 teams into six groups of five and having them play a tournament that will culminate with a championship in Las Vegas on Dec. 9.
And lastly, if you need a fix on the world’s richest man this weekend let me direct you to our Elon, Inc. podcast. You can catch up with his recent trip to the Israel-Gaza border and get the lowdown on Tesla’s long-awaited Cybertruck.Check back with us tomorrow for a look-ahead to the coming week.
