Week of Nov 25 2016 Weekly Recap & The Week Ahead
“Don’t look for the needle in the haystack. Just buy the haystack.” — John Bogle, founder of Vanguard
1. China and Russia Push For Free Trade in Asia-Pacific — China and Russia will push for a free-trade area in the Asia-Pacific region, China’s foreign ministry said after leaders of the two nations met during the APEC summit in Peru. The call for free trade in the region comes amid a protectionist mood in the U.S. following the election of Donald Trump, who is threatening to derail the TPP deal that excludes the world’s second-biggest economy
2. FDA Lifts Partial Clinical Hold on AstraZeneca H&N studies — U.S. officials have given a green light for two clinical trials testing AstraZeneca’s (NYSE:AZN) immunotherapy drug durvalumab in head and neck cancer to resume recruiting patients, lifting a hold imposed following cases of bleeding. News of the partial hold on the trials, imposed at the end of last month, had spooked investors since durvalumab is AstraZeneca’s most important pipeline medicine.
3. Stock Averages Hit Records & Dow Tops 19K — the four major U.S. stock market benchmarks again hit all-time highs, with the Dow closing above 19,000 for the first time, the S&P 500 also finishing above 2,200 for the first time, and the Russell 2000 ending higher for the 13th straight day. Treasury prices were little changed with the two-year yield finishing flat at 1.08% while the yield on the benchmark 10-year note slipped a basis point to 2.31%.
4. Black Friday Continues To Move Online — Black Friday isn’t as big as it once was due to earlier holiday deal hysteria, but it’s still a very significant day for retail. The National Retail Federation expects 137.4M Americans to hit stores at some point over the weekend, and around 74% of that population already went shopping on Thanksgiving Day. That’s about on par with last year’s figures as online sales become a bigger part of the holiday.
Tags: 'Black Friday'