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The market sobered up in December after a big post-election rally in November. The S&P fell 2.5% in the last month of the year. But January has started out with stocks up 2.2% already.

Technology is driving the market higher. The sector is taking off after Nvidia (NVDA) issued bullish statements about demand for its artificial intelligence chips. AI is a huge growth catalyst for the market’s largest sector and has proven it can drive the indexes higher all by itself. In fact, technology has been the primary catalyst for the S&P over most of this bull market. But things might be changing.

Spirit Airlines (SAVE) appears to have quickly reached terms with creditors that will keep its planes in the sky, but the outcome is bad news for Spirit stock.

AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) Update: Full Steam Ahead

Before we dive into this week’s covered call idea we are going to first move on from our position in Credo (CRDO) as the stock finished below the 40 strike price on Friday, which means the call we sold expired worthless, leaving us with our stock position today which is now trading back above 40 (great!).

The market leveled off last week after the huge election surge. Stocks are trying to find a more sober post-election footing.

The S&P 500 was down very slightly last week after soaring 5% in the three days following the election. The initial reaction to the Trump victory was higher growth expectations and a surge in cyclical stocks countered by a spike in interest rates. We’ll see if those trends continue after the market fully digests the election.

In our last issue before the holiday shopping season hopefully kicks off the next leg of the bull market, today we subtract two underperforming overseas positions and add a mid-cap defense stock recommended by Cabot Explorer Chief Analyst Carl Delfeld. We also put a bow on Q3 earnings season (minus this week’s Nvidia report, of course), which was mostly a force for good among the stocks in our portfolio.

Details inside.

Small caps broke out after the election and showed a major change to their trading pattern. So, what comes next for small-cap stocks?

Not surprisingly the post-election market wiggles continued last week as many stocks and sectors continued to show strength, while others got hit hard. By week’s end the three leading indexes had all lost ground as the S&P 500 fell 2.3%, the Dow declined by 1.7%, and the Nasdaq lost 3.65%.

WHAT TO DO NOW: Last week’s market action was disappointing, though it didn’t change any of our key indicators. Even so, we’re seeing some selling on strength appear, so we’re focused on managing our portfolio. Today we’re going to sell one-third of our solid profit in Palantir (PLTR), leaving us with 23% in cash.

Stocks may be trading at all-time highs, but economists and analysts are looking for even more gains going into 2025. So, with meaningful catalysts still on the horizon, here are the strategies you can use and the steps you can take right now to take advantage of the continuing bull market.

The new year will bring a new administration that will favor a fresh slate of markets and industries; these three investment areas are looking bright in 2025.

Not surprisingly the post-election market wiggles continued last week as many stocks and sectors continued to show strength, while others got hit hard. By week’s end the three leading indexes had all lost ground as the S&P 500 fell 2.3%, the Dow declined by 1.7%, and the Nasdaq lost 3.65%.

It’s not 2022 or 2008, of course, but the vast majority of stocks out there are in correction mode, and that includes the growth arena, which after a huge run began to hit turbulence in early December and has generally been under pressure since. Now, there are some rays of light out there, which we discuss in this issue, and we’re not having trouble keeping a full-ish watch list for the next upmove, but we’ve been favoring a cautious stance for a while now and think that remains the right move, as we’ve trimmed further this week and now have 60% on the sideline.

In tonight’s issue, we do write about one big positive factor out there (no strength in defensive stocks), talk about the allure of buying former winners “cheap” and, of course, write about all of our names and a bunch we’re watching for when the buyers retake control.

Here are my top eight predictions for the cannabis sector for 2025.

1. Cannabis rescheduling goes through

Promises made, promises kept. Trump loves a “deep state” challenge. Put these two together, and it seems probable that rescheduling could happen in 2025.

With the calendar flipping to 2025 and the long holiday weeks/weekends behind us, most traders will be back at their desks starting yesterday. Let the fun begin!

Enovix (ENVX) Pops After Achieving Milestones

The year started out pretty well over the first two days (last week), but this week has been more of a downer, with the major indexes down a bit and with some leading growth stocks again coming under pressure. Going into Friday, most major indexes reversed early-week gains and are down 0.5% to 1% on the week and that doesn’t include what looks like a morning gap down following this morning’s jobs report.