Holiday-shortened week kicks off on positive note

Good afternoon. Today is Monday, November 25th. Apologies for having no Wall Street breakfast this morning. I am filling in for the irreplaceable Kim Khan. I'm Rina Sherbal. Let's get you caught up on the markets. Wall Street has kicked off the holiday shortened trading week on a positive note as investors and traders process the latest developments surrounding President elect Donald Trump's new appointment for Treasury Secretary.

As the day progressed, the financial community saw a positive shift in the blue chip Dow index as that advanced 0.9%. At the same time, the benchmark S&P 500 has climbed 0.2% and the tech focus NASDAQ is pushing 0.1%. Sector by sector eight of the 11 S&P sectors found themselves moving higher with consumer discretionary and real estate leading the charge. As for the worst performing sectors on Wall Street, so far that's been energy.

U.S. Treasury yields have taken a leg lower to start the week with a shorter and more rate-sensitive U.S. two-year Treasury yield down by 10 basis points to 4.27 percent and the longer-end U.S. 10-year Treasury yield down 13 basis points to 4.26 percent.

Bitcoin continues to flirt with the 100,000 level. It was noted in a filing on Monday that micro strategy bought about 55,500 more bitcoins to hit about 5.4 billion in the week between November 18 and 24, which is about a 17% increase in its Bitcoin holdings.

On Friday, after the market closed, media reports said that President-elect Donald Trump nominated a hedge fund manager to head up the Treasury Department under his new administration, and markets reacted positively. UBS's Paul Donovan said in a note that investors prefer orthodoxy, predictability, and coherence from economic policy.

JP Morgan has listed its top biotech picks for 2025. Among them, Vertex, Spring Works, Edgewise Therapeutics, and Blueprint. Look for Seeking Alpha's Investing Experts Podcast that was released today. I had an interview there with Jonathan Faisan talking about his favorite biotech stock picks. Among them, Spring Works as well, if you want a deeper dive into that particular stock and that sector in general. Look for that on our Investing Expert

podcast. We love a sentiment survey over at Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Breakfast. And in November, subscribers were asked to identify the most realistic alternative energy source in the US choices given were wind, solar, nuclear, geothermal and hydropower. One clear winner emerged garnering nearly 73% of the vote guesses.

It was nuclear. Perhaps not surprising as that sector has recently experienced a wave of investment, especially from big tech and might have more stain power this time around due to AI and data center demand. Announcing Q3 earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th before the market opened is retail giant Macy's. Over the last two years, Macy's has beaten EPS estimates 100% of the time and has beaten revenue estimates 88% of the time.

JP Morgan analysts also updated their analyst focus list, which targets growth, income, value, and short ideas. Analysts added tapestry, alarm.com, and Regency Centers, while removing ABV, Vera Therapeutics, Carmax, and Bank of America as well as Entergy.

Spot Gold rose about 6% the previous week supported by Safe Haven Demand amid fears of an escalation in the war in Ukraine and has gained 31% this year. It was down 1.8% to 2,666.80 an ounce on Monday pressured by profit-taking after a five-session rally.

Meanwhile, silver has also risen significantly this year, following the gold price, trading almost 30% higher than at the beginning of 2024. On the economic calendar, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index sank deeper into the red in October. Thanks to the Thanksgiving holiday shortened weekend, with a holiday coming on Thursday, markets are also closing early on Friday.

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