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Top 5 Things To Watch In The Stock Market As We Start 2021

U.S. stocks closed 2020 on a strong note, but will the party continue this year?

US Stock Futures Edge Higher As 2021 Trading Kicks Off

The year 2020 was one wild ride for Wall Street, to say the least. If you are a fan of tech stocks, you may know that the Nasdaq Composite surged 43.6% in 2020. That was its biggest one year gain since the financial crisis in 2009. 

“The stock market is positioned for further gains in 2021 based on the twin pillars of coordinated fiscal and monetary policy from the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve Board and a successful COVID vaccine rollout,” wrote Marc Chaikin, CEO of Chaikin Analytics. “However, we envision some bumps in the road on the way.”

U.S. stock futures and major international markets rose on the first trading day of 2021. Many are hoping that the rollout of vaccines globally will accelerate the reopening of economies. In addition, government stimulus could also be contributing to positive sentiments in equities. The major future indexes are all trading in the positive territory. The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq 100 futures were all in positive territory, moving 0.61%, 0.56%, and 0.42% higher respectively as of 6.18 a.m. ET. 

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Bitcoin Blasts Past $34,000 For The First Time

Another day, another thousand dollar gains for Bitcoin. The virtual asset saw its price reaching a peak of $34,600. And that happened less than 24 hours after it breached the $30,000 mark. Perhaps you are wondering, what exactly is happening with this cryptocurrency? You see, the meteoric rise is not without reasons. The Fed has been keeping interest rates at dovish levels amid a severely weakening dollar. And investors are looking for ways to hedge against the weakening dollar. And bitcoin appears to be an attractive choice these days. Also, the participation of institutional investors is also perceived to be the driving force behind such massive rallies. 

“Bitcoin’s price is being driven by institutional money and there is not enough supply,” Laurent Kssis, managing director at 21Shares, told CoinDesk. “The number of family offices asking to invest in our ETP is just staggering. I’ve never seen this before. In 2017 it was just retail knocking at the door now it’s only institutional.”

Chinese EVs Reported Strong Deliveries 

Many would argue that 2020 was the year of electric vehicle stocks. With gains of such magnitude from Tesla (TSLA Stock Report), all eyes are on the red-hot industry. But let’s not forget the world’s biggest EV market is not in the U.S. or Europe, but China. Understandably, it makes sense for investors to look for homegrown EV companies in China. 

If you are an early investor in Chinese electric vehicle stocks, you might have celebrated the new year with champagne. Over the new year’s holiday, the trio of Chinese EVs have all posted strong monthly deliveries. Clearly, they are starting the year with a bang. XPeng (XPEV Stock Report), Nio (NIO Stock Report), and Li Auto (LI Stock Report) all posted triple-digit percentage gains in their December delivery figures from a year ago. With China expected to invest heavily in clean energy, including electric vehicles, you would expect the music to continue playing in 2021. 

[Read More] Looking For The Best Tech Stocks To Watch In January? 1 Up 350%+ YTD

Oil Climbs Above $49 Before OPEC+ Meeting On Production Levels

The oil industry was brought down to its knees in 2020. Oil demand came to a screeching halt during the onset of the coronavirus pandemic when international travel came to a standstill. The OPEC+ ministerial meeting comes after oil consumption tanked in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia. Despite the pickup in oil prices towards the end of 2020, there are still a lot of uncertainties lingering in the oil market.

“Finally, we saw a strong demonstration of OPEC+ will and capability to manage the market, laying the groundwork for Brent’s recovery to over $50 per barrel despite remaining demand uncertainty in the market,” JBC Energy analysts.

From oil’s futures curve, it appears markets have mixed short- and longer-term outlooks. Sentiments are neither too optimistic nor too pessimistic. That can be seen from Brent’s prompt time spread of 2 cents a barrel in contango, whereby later-dated prices are higher than near-dated prices.

Earnings Report

Earnings for cloud computing, e-commerce, and electric vehicle companies have seen them crushing analysts’ estimates. As we continue to wind down the earnings season in the first week of 2020, there are still some big names reporting their results this week. These include Tata Consultancy (TTM Stock Report), Micron Technology (MU Stock Report), and Constellation Brands (STZ Stock Report). As such, if you are looking for top EV stocks to buy amid strong deliveries, chasing the high price tag of Bitcoin, or to follow the OPEC+ meeting, there is enough to get you all warmed up this week.

By Brandon Michael

Brandon Michael is a financial specialist and financial contributor to the stock market. He enjoys writing about rising stocks and how the market changes over time. He specializes in multimedia and events, as well as social media management and media contributing. He has managed and marketed hundreds of events, as well as grown social media pages upwards of 200,000 followers and everything in between. As an active social media influencer in the car community, he understands how to recognize trends and curate content for niches. From an early age, Brandon was fascinated by the power of social media and how it built companies and careers for many. Over time he has developed many different strategies for different platforms on how to grow different kinds of pages. In addition to social media skills, he is passionate about events, it is second nature to him to promote them and make sure that everything is executing perfectly. This has allowed him to partner with some of the largest companies in the industry to run events for hundreds of thousands of people. Brandon has written many articles for many notable top websites for the last 3 years. His focus in his writing is generally rising stocks and emerging trends in the stock market, as well as bringing companies with market potential to the frontlines of the media. It is easy for him to identify trends and do extensive research to make sure he’s providing the most accurate research possible. In his free time, he continues to improve his research skills and financial knowledge to continue providing the best work possible.