Will New Year Be More ‘Doom, Gloom?’

The Dow locked in its best month in decades and signals show this market could be setting up for the new year and a darker turn.

The Dow locked in at 29,638.64 points to stumble .91% (dropping 271.73 points on the day). The close still bested any overall month for the Dow since 1987.

The other major indexes held near flat. The Nasdaq dropped to 12,183.16 points for a .19% loss while the S&P 500 idled back .58% to 3,617.39 points.

Expectations among Simpler’s traders are that the market is setting up for a pullback this week. This may offer buying opportunities.

Until the move sets in, traders are searching for setups that present trades that will likely stay within the range of the expected move. This is the type of setup that offers opportunity to execute the trade and exit with profits before any significant shifts undercut the move.

The end-of-month selloff Monday did leave some traders twisting in the winds. Simpler’s traders cautioned pushing too hard to take trades in this environment.

Veteran traders noted that this market has been moving similar to other years in history where the end of year could be setting up for gains to close the year before moving into a rough New Year.

Rough going or not, expectations are the market will continue to adjust and present significant opportunities in 2021 despite any news of “doom and gloom.”

We’ll look for the next wave of momentum and trades.

We Saw: November rally ‘checked’ on last day – 

• Dow up on the month despite selloff Monday
• Mixed bag of results in tech, pandemic stocks
• Covid-19 vaccine distribution plans quickening

We’re Watching: Key tickers with strong expected moves –

• Just how uncertain 2021 could get
• Politics of economic stimulus funding into end of year
• How the overnight momentum affects Tuesday’s open