In today\u2019s Steady\nInvestor, we look at key factors that we believe are currently impacting the\nmarket, such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Steel Prices Surge as\nDemand Picks Up \u2013 <\/strong>In the spring, steelmakers halted domestic production,\nshuttered plants, and stopped ordering steel to build up inventories. No one\nwas really sure how long pandemic-induced plummets in demand would last. Now,\nsteelmakers are struggling to keep up with new orders from U.S. manufacturers, and\nsteel prices are surging as a result of supply and demand imbalances. The\nbenchmark price for hot-rolled sheet steel has doubled to $900 a ton (from\naround $450 in August), and lead times for sheet steel orders keep lengthening\n\u2013 10 weeks today, versus 4 weeks over the summer. By some accounts in the steel\nindustry, the supply chain has collapsed, which in the short-term may bizarrely\nbe a good sign for the greater U.S. economy. It shows that auto, appliance, and\nother machinery manufacturers are rebounding in lockstep, with some seemingly\npanic-buying steel to make sure they have ample inventory to meet future\ndemand. Even with this strong rebound, steel utilization and production remain\nlower than twelve months ago, with steel production down 13% from last December\nand only 71% of U.S. production capacity being used (compared to 80% at the\nsame time last year).1<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n ______________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n How to Navigate Your Investment Goals at the Start of a New Year!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Many investors are worried about the economic recovery\nand what 2021 will bring for the market. The current vaccine has recently been\napproved, and with it a lot can go right, but a lot can also go wrong \u2013 Will it\nreally be effective? How long will it take? Will enough Americans take it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this report, we take a\nlook at some of the most critical aspects of life-after-the-pandemic such as\nhow earnings will rebound. You will see a glimpse of what we\u2019re forecasting\nahead. We will look at:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Download Our Just Released, \u201cDecember Market Strategy Guide\u201d<\/a>2<\/a><\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n ______________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n Facebook Was Dealt an\nAntitrust Lawsuit. Now Google is Being Sued \u2013 <\/strong>On Wednesday, 10 states\njoined Texas in a lawsuit accusing Google of \u201crunning an illegal\ndigital-advertising monopoly\u201d where it enlisted Facebook to help rig\nadvertisement auctions. In a twist only the Big Tech industry could produce,\nthe lawsuit specifies that the code names used by Google and Facebook to coordinate\ntheir efforts were Star Wars characters. The lawsuit accuses Google of building\na monopolistic online advertising vertical, where the search giant owns tools\nat every link of the chain between online publishers and advertisers. Just two\ndays later, a coalition of 38 states filed a lawsuit against Google alleging\nthe company of maintaining a monopoly over the internet-search market, using\nanticompetitive contracts and business practices to thwart competition. Some\nreaders may recall that Google is already in a lawsuit with the U.S. Justice\nDepartment, filed on October 20th and also targeting its search business. Part\nof the reason there are three lawsuits is simple division of labor \u2013 the cases\noverlap in some areas but the overall effort is so large that it had to be\nbroken up. The lawsuits also represent perhaps the most remarkable bi-partisan\ncooperation against one of the most successful companies in America, signaling\nthat the headwinds against Big Tech are real.3<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Fiscal Stimulus\nBreakthrough \u2013 <\/strong>Lawmakers in D.C. appear closer than ever to passing more\nfiscal stimulus, with $900 billion seeming to be the agreed upon figure. The\nstimulus is said to include helicopter money \u2013 checks or deposits sent directly\nto American households \u2013 and $300 in \u2018extra\u2019 per week unemployment benefits.\nThe bill also reportedly includes an emergency rental assistance program,\nfunding for small businesses, schools, broadband, and importantly vaccine\ndistribution. In the realm of compromise, Republicans had to give up a\nprovision protecting businesses from liability lawsuits, and Democrats had to\ngive up funding for states and municipalities.4<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Retail Sales Pull\nBack in November \u2013 A Warning Sign? <\/strong>U.S. consumers gained momentum in the\nfall, with strong spending figures posted in August and September. The numbers\nmoderating in October and November, however, signal that rising cases and\nrestrictions may have caused consumers to pull back. U.S. retail sales fell a\nseasonally adjusted -1.1% in November from October, with drops in restaurants,\ndepartment stores, and vehicle dealerships leading the way down. A fiscal\nstimulus that includes direct payments may give a boost heading into winter.5<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n What to Expect in 2021<\/strong> \u2013 As we all know, 2021 is\naround the corner and many investors are worried about the economic recovery\nand what the new year will bring for the market. In our\njust-released December Market Strategy Report, we take a look\nat companies working on the vaccine and antibody medicines. You will see our\nanalysis on the major companies involved, with Zacks stock ratings included in\nour commentary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We will look at: <\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\nThis\nreport dives into what a vaccine could mean for economic recovery. If you have\n$500,000 or more to invest and want to learn more, click on the link below to\nget your free report today! Headwinds for Big Tech, steel prices surge with increased demand, lawmakers close to $900 billion stimulus <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-private-client-group","category-steady-investors-week"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9160"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10488,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9160\/revisions\/10488"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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