With less than 2 weeks till the year’s over, you might well as well wrap it all up and get prepared for 2010. Due to the holiday (obviously), expect trading volume to be light and any bad news to be covered up until the new decade starts.
Markets closes early on Thursday and all day on Friday. See stock market holidays.
While volume should be low, this could amplify small moves thus making for a somewhat volatile market short-term.
There will be chatter about possible weak consumer spending over this last weekend (partially due to harsh weather along mid-atlantic and northeast), which will most likely hurt some retailers in the short-term; although shippers like FedEx (FDX) could see a boost. Also Walmart (WMT) could see a little bump higher, if they notice an increase in last-minute holiday shopping.
OPEC is not expected to change the oil production rate when it meets this Tuesday, and are hinting at possible decline in price in 2010, which wouldn’t be good for respective oil stocks.
My chart watch of the week is FedEx.
FedEx reported disappointing 3rd quarter numbers, but shipping numbers have picked up in the 4th quarter, and could get another boost from consumers staying in on the weekend and opting for online shopping. Also look at MasterCard (MA), which is up 10% since I first recommended it.