Stocks Continue Down on Concerns about Taper and Omicron Variant

Weekly Wrap Content for the week of Dec 3:

1. Week 48 major indexes performance;

2. Week 48 US sector indexes performance;

3. Major indexes weekly charts of support and resistance levels;

4. Major indexes performance for Nov

U.S

For the week ended Dec 3, the major equity indexes pulled back on news that the Federal Reserve could curtail its monthly asset purchases at a faster rate and fears that the emergence of the omicron strain of the coronavirus could weigh on global economic growth and contribute to supply chain disruptions. Growth-related issues such as Information Technology and Consumer Discretionary leading the way southward. Refer to major indexes’ weekly and monthly performance tables below.

Key highlights for the week/coming week:

1.    Powell says Fed may consider tapering bond purchases at faster pace in his testimony before Congress. 

2.    Weaker-than-expected job creation in November. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 210k sequentially in November—well below the 546k positions added in October and less than half of analysts’ consensus estimate.

SPX sectors in play

Large-capitalization stocks outperformed smaller- and mid-cap benchmarks. Out of the SPX 11 sectors, the communication services sector(XLC) gave up the most ground. Utilities(XLE) was the only sector to post a gain. Refer to below sector indexes weekly performance table.

Technically, all three major indexes uptrend was well intact, DJI closed down 4th week in a row, while both Nasdaq and SPX indexes closed 2nd week lower.

DJI weekly chart

SPX weekly chart

Nasdaq weekly chart

China/HK

For the week, the Shanghai Composite Index (SSE weekly chart) recorded a weekly gain despite a resurgence of U.S.-China tensions after Chinese ride-hailing app Didi said it would delist its U.S.-listed shares from the New York Stock Exchange. Didi plans to list its shares on the HKEX in three month time then to delist on the NYSE by June next year.

Hang Kong(.HSI weekly chart) stocks tumbled another 3.9%, down three-week in a row, touched its 1-year low this week dragged mainly by the tech sector. .HSI index has been the worst major index performer YTD with -13%, as compare to SPX’s 21% gains. Refer to the above weekly index performance for more info.

Singapore

STI index(STI weekly chart) had broken all its three major technical support i.e the 50/200/250dma in just three session straight earlier in the week, and since recouped part of its losses and closed back above its 250dma(one-year line) at 3090. Immediate key support to watch is at 3040 recent low.