By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer
Three Things to Watch
- The markets will be closed on Thursday and stocks will have a shortened session on Friday, closing at 1 pm ET. There are few earnings reports due out this week with both Zoom and Best Buy reporting. Investors will look for guidance on how those companies expect to fare in a post-pandemic environment.
- The economic calendar is light, with new home sales, durable goods, and GDP the highlights. New home sales are expected to be flat while durable goods orders for October are forecast to increase 0.2% while 3Q GDP is expected at 2.2% up slightly from the preliminary report.
- The minutes from the November 3rd FOMC meeting will be released. The Fed announced its plans to taper its monthly bond buying program at this meeting.
Three Things to Know
- Airports and roads may seem more crowded this year as AAA predicts 53.4 million people will travel for the Thanksgiving holiday, up 13% from 2020. This brings travel volume within 5% of pre-pandemic levels in 2019, with air travel almost completely recovering from its dramatic fall during the pandemic, up 80% over last year. (Source: Yahoo, American Automobile Association)
- An additional 2 million people are expected to shop from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday this year even as consumers have continued the trend of starting their holiday shopping earlier in the year. Fully two-thirds (66 percent) of holiday shoppers surveyed in early November plan to shop Thanksgiving weekend this year. That amounts to an estimated 158.3 million people, up from 156.6 million last year but still below the 165.3 million in pre-pandemic 2019. (Source: National Retail Federation)
- The National Retail Federation survey also indicates clothing to top the list of what consumers plan to buy. Clothing ranked at the top of the list at 53percent, followed by gift cards at 46 percent, toys at 39 percent, books/music/movies/video games at 35 percent and food/candy at 31 percent as the top five categories. (Source: National Retail Federation)
The above information reflects the current opinion of the author. It is based upon sources and data believed to be accurate and reliable. Opinions and forward-looking statements expressed are subject to change without notice. This information does not constitute a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell any security mentioned.