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The short holiday week begins with stocks hovering at all-time highs.
We’ll see if that turns into a good omen for the year to come but, for now, stocks are perking up, thanks to some positive chatter on the U.S.-China trade front. Note, trading volumes will likely start to thin out as investors begin their holiday vacations.
Onto our call of the day, from Standard Life Investments’s head of global strategy, Andrew Milligan, who earlier in the year gave this column two winning technology stock picks for 2019—Microsoft MSFT, +1.09% and Equinix EQIX, +0.31% EQIX, +0.31% —up 55% and 64%, respectively, year-to-date.
We’ve gone back to Milligan to get more equity ideas for the year ahead, and he tells us he still likes Microsoft. What else? Credit card providers Visa V, +0.78% and Mastercard MA, +0.35%, the former “a little more developed-market orientated and the latter a little more emerging-market orientated,” he says.
Milligan believes that 2019 will be the year investors decide it is time to buy some 5G assets—the next-generation wireless technology that is set to roll out in 2020. “In the world of 5G, semi and smartphones, then Marvell is worth examining,” he said. Chipmaker Marvell Technology MRVL, -0.35% is among the companies with a foothold in that related 5G technology.
In the smaller-cap space, albeit riskier, says Milligan, he likes Five9 FIVN, -0.76%, which operates in the cloud software area.
As for this history-setting bull market, this strategist says it could carry on in the year ahead, but like others, he believes it needs to be fueled by stronger company profits. Still, there are other things to cheer, such as a trade truce between the U.S. and China, and central banks pulling back on the urge to tighten up policy, he says.
The market
Dow YM00, +0.12%, S&P ES00, +0.14% and Nasdaq NQ00, +0.19% futures are edging up, while European stocks SXXP, +0.05% are mixed and Asian markets ADOW, +0.03% were flat.
The chart
Our chart comes from CNN’s Fear & Greed Index, a gauge of investor emotions that has been hovering lately in the Extreme Greed region—a far cry from the Extreme Fear range of a year ago. And a month ago it showed investors as just plain greedy.
CNN Here’s how CNN calculates that index.
The buzz
Chinese media reports that Beijing will cut tariffs on 850 products, while separately, the government has vowed to open its oil, telecom and power markets to private competitors, in a bid to boost the country’s slowing economy.
Facebook FB, +0.12% and Twitter TWTR, +0.31% have taken down a global network of fake accounts linked to manipulative political messages on social media.
“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” earned $175.5 million in its opening weekend for film studio Disney DIS, +0.50%, even if the critics panned it.
The quote
NBC (L-R) Tracy Morgan, Dave Chappelle, host Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock during the Saturday Night Live opening monologue on Saturday, December 21.
“Right now, you’re looking at half of Netflix’s budget.” That was comedian and actor Eddie Murphy on American late-night comedy show “Saturday Night Live,” alongside other comedy legends, including Chris Rock. While exaggerating, Murphy and the others have reportedly signed million-dollar deals with the streaming video company.
The economy
The bulk of the week’s data is coming, with durable goods orders, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index and new home sales on the way.
The tweet
Random reads
Saudi Arabia condemns five people to death over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi
For the first time in 200 years, Notre Dame cathedral won’t hold Christmas Mass
Atlanta woman becomes the 17th person to die from the New Zealand volcano eruption
Woman at the center of the “Chernobyl” television series talks of media harassment and betrayal
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