Some on Wall Street believe a Santa Claus rally will deliver more gains in the final weeks of the year, while others are playing it cautious until an upcoming Federal Reserve meeting is over.
Stock market participants are largely upbeat about the economic recovery, but whether the huge rally that began in March can be sustained remains an open question.
In the week to Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 blue-chips rose 0.8 percent to 10,471.50.
The technology-heavy NASDAQ composite, however, drifted down 0.18 percent to 2,190.31, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 broad-market index eked out a gain of 0.04 percent to 1,106.41.
The market action over the past week “may signal the beginnings of a multi-week Santa Rally,” said Duncan Davidson at VantagePoint Venture Partners, referring to the traditional gains around the year-end holidays.
However, many analysts say it may be hard to build on the gains of some 60 percent for the broad market in the current environment.
Stock market action is often cautious around the time of Fed meetings, and speculation has swirled around whether the central bank will make a move toward an exit strategy from its huge stimulus effort at a two-day meeting opening on Tuesday.
While some traders have begun to price in rate hikes next year, Michael Gregory at BMO Capital Markets said this may be premature. He argues that the Fed will continue to pump money into the economy at least until March.
“The big question is how long will policy remain on hold afterwards?” he said.
Taiwan aims to open 18 representative offices and seven Taiwan Tourism Information Centers worldwide by next year to attract international visitors, the Tourism Administration said on Saturday. The agency has so far opened three representative offices abroad this year and would open two more before the end of the year, it said. It has also already opened information centers in Jakarta, Mumbai and Paris, and is to open one in Vancouver next month and in Manila in December, it said. Next year, it would also open offices in Amsterdam, Dubai and Sydney, it added. While the Cabinet did not mention international tourists in its
EYES AT SEA: Many marine enthusiasts have expressed interest in volunteering for coastal patrols, which would help identify stowaways and illegal fishing, the CGA said Six thousand coastal patrol volunteers are to be recruited for 159 inspection offices to enhance the nation’s response to “gray zone” conflicts, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sources said yesterday. Volunteer teams would be established to increase the resilience of coastal defense systems in the wake of two unlawful entries attempted by Chinese over the past three months, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. A former Chinese navy captain drove a motorboat into the Tamsui River (淡水河) in Taipei on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, while another Chinese man sailed in a rubber boat into the Houkeng
NEXT LEVEL: The defense ministry confirmed that a video released last month featured personnel piloting new FPV drone systems being developed by the Armaments Bureau Taipei and Washington are pushing for their drone companies to work together to establish a China-free supply chain, the Financial Times reported on Friday. A delegation of high-level executives and US government officials were yesterday to arrive in Taipei to discuss with their Taiwanese counterparts collaboration on drone technology procurement and development, the report said. The executives represent 26 US manufacturers of drone and counter-drone systems, while the officials are from the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit, along with Dev Shenoy, principal director for microelectronics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
‘ANONYMOUS 64’: A national security official said that it is an attempt by China to increase domestic anti-Taiwanese sentiment and inflame cross-strait tensions The Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM) yesterday denied accusations by China that it had undermined regional security by carrying out cyberattacks against targets in China, adding instead that Beijing was responsible for raising tensions and undermining regional peace. The Chinese Ministry of State Security on WeChat accused a hacker group called “Anonymous 64” of targeting China, Hong Kong and Macau starting earlier this year through frequent cyberattacks. The group carried out cyberattacks to seize control of Web sites, outdoor electronic billboards and video-on-demand platforms in China, Hong Kong and Macau, it said, adding the hackers’