Links worth snacking on:
- Chart of the Week: Top 200 rated jobs of 2013
- Video of the Week: Order "Seamless" at your trading desk? Check out their secret restaurant
- CNNMoney: 36 coolest gadgets of 2013
- Fast Company: 10 major products that flopped in 2013
- Business Insider: Goldman Sachs answers your top 10 financial questions for 2014
- Inc.: 10 business events you can count on in 2014
- Quartz: Amazon.com's best selling holiday products this year
- The Atlantic: The economics of "reindeer farming"
Apparently, Santa decided to fill Wall Street's stockings with top-shelf bourbon, Magnolia cupcakes, and Brooks Brothers gift certificates, because markets have been good -- the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI -0.11%) finished up every day but one on the holiday-shortened Christmas week. All markets will be closed for New Year's Day, but stocks are on pace to end 2013 with the best gains since 1995.
1. Stock market winners ...
Apple (AAPL 1.27%) got some Christmas love on news that the world's largest wireless phone network, China Mobile, will begin carrying the iPhone. Facebook joined a new club mid-holiday and is now listed on the S&P 500 stock market index of the 500 largest publicly traded companies in America.
Apple (AAPL 1.27%) got some Christmas love on news that the world's largest wireless phone network, China Mobile, will begin carrying the iPhone. Facebook joined a new club mid-holiday and is now listed on the S&P 500 stock market index of the 500 largest publicly traded companies in America.
And although UPS (UPS -1.51%) embarrassingly missed a huge number of delivery-by-Christmas promises, Wall Street rewarded the stock for its record growth in shipping volume (a hefty 37% pop in last second online holiday orders from last year).
2. ... And stock market losers
General Motors (GM -0.04%) got some coal-worthy news that it will have to recall nearly 1.5 million Buick and Chevrolet cars because of faulty fuel pump brackets made in China.
2. ... And stock market losers
General Motors (GM -0.04%) got some coal-worthy news that it will have to recall nearly 1.5 million Buick and Chevrolet cars because of faulty fuel pump brackets made in China.
After a strong start to the week that pumped Twitter (TWTR) up to high-flying record highs, the stock dropped more than 13% Friday following an I-Bank analyst report saying the company stock has risen way too high, way too fast. Twitter was questioned in way more than 140 characters. Internet companies Pandora, Netflix, and Groupon all tumbled in the wake of Twitter's stock downgrade. Bah, humbug.
3. Econ data dominated
Econ data continues to be on Santa's "good list." Consumer spending jumped 0.5% in November for its fastest monthly gain since June. Orders for big-ticket and long-lasting items (also known as durable goods) rose an expectation-beating 3.5% last month, while home prices gained 0.5% in October, reaching its strongest rate of growth since 2008.
Econ data continues to be on Santa's "good list." Consumer spending jumped 0.5% in November for its fastest monthly gain since June. Orders for big-ticket and long-lasting items (also known as durable goods) rose an expectation-beating 3.5% last month, while home prices gained 0.5% in October, reaching its strongest rate of growth since 2008.
And the number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits (aka weekly jobless claims) fell by 42,000 to reach the lowest level of December.
What MarketSnacks is checking out this week:
What MarketSnacks is checking out this week:
- Monday: Pending home sales
- Tuesday: Consumer confidence survey
- Wednesday: All markets CLOSED for New Year's Day
- Thursday: ISM Manufacturing Index
- Friday: Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks
MarketSnacks Fact of the Day: In Finland, there is a unit of measurement based on a reindeer's urinary habits.
As originally published on MarketSnacks.com
