Holiday Retail Sales Surged 8.6%

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Today is Monday, December 27, 2021.

Holiday Retail Sales Surged 8.6% 

Retail sales increased 8.5% this holiday season, including an 11% growth in online sales, according to the Mastercard (NYSE: MA) SpendingPulseTM survey released Sunday.

Details: The survey, taken from November 1 to December 24, found that consumers shopped earlier in the holiday season than in past years due to special promotions. Retail sales increased 14.1% during Thanksgiving weekend.

Online: While e-commerce made up a record 20.9% of retail sales in 2021, it was only slightly better than the 20.6% of retail sales in 2020. This reflects the trend that e-commerce companies are growing at a slower rate and explains why some e-commerce stocks fell in 2021.

Bling: Some of the biggest growth belonged to the jewelry sector. This makes sense because there have been some jewelry stocks, such as Birks Group (NYSEAmerican: BGI), that are up big this year.

Final Thoughts: With the holiday retail season now in the past, will certain retail stocks continue to grow?

Notables

Notable Earnings Today: N/A.

Notable IPOs Today: Concord Acquisition Corp III (NYSE: CNDB), Fortune Rise Acquisition Corporation Class A Common Stock (Nasdaq: FRLA), Arogo Capital Acquisition Corp. Unit (Nasdaq: AOGOU), New Providence Acquisition Corp. II Class A Common Stock (Nasdaq: NPAB), Liberty Resources Acquisition Corp. Class A Common Stock (Nasdaq: LIBY), Intelligent Medicine Acquisition Corp. Class A Common Stock (Nasdaq: IQMD), Spindletop Health Acquisition Corp. Class A Common Stock (Nasdaq: SHCA), Parsec Capital Acquisitions Corp Unit (Nasdaq: PCXCU), Anthemis Digital Acquisitions I Corp Class A Ordinary Shares (Nasdaq: ADAL), Mountain & Co. I Acquisition Corp. Class A Ordinary Shares (Nasdaq: MCAA), Mercato Partners Acquisition Corporation Class A Common Stock (Nasdaq: MPRA).

Notable Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns Ending Today: Breezy Swimwear (StartEngine).

Notable Economic Events Today: N/A

U.S. Airlines Cancel 1,500 Flights

Photo by Amarnath Tade / Unsplash

Over 1,500 U.S. flights have been canceled during the Christmas holiday weekend, with airlines blaming staffing shortages due to the omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Details: Over 4,000 flights were canceled or delayed on Sunday and on Saturday, according to USA Today. This included 5% of Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) flights and 4% of United Air Lines (Nasdaq: UAL) flights being canceled on Sunday, according to CNBC.

Sailing Away: And it wasn’t just airlines that were impacted by omicron, with several cruise ships forced to return to port over the weekend due to Covid-19 cases. There was also a Holland America Line cruise ship that could not disembark in Mexico due to a Covid-19 outbreak.

Big Picture: After a rough pandemic, travel stocks are trying to recover, but a resurgence of the pandemic could be disastrous. Keep an eye on travel stocks on Monday, especially the major U.S. airlines, to see how investors respond.

Final Thoughts: The omicron variant could prevent a Santa Claus rally.

WallStreetBets, Meme Stocks Revolutionized Investing in 2021

You can't tell the story of investing in 2021 without mentioning the impact of WallStreetBets and meme stocks.

Background: By January 2021, investors in online message boards and social media platforms, such as Reddit, circled on stocks with significant short positions from institutional investors. By communicating with each other, these retail investors bought shares of these stocks and drove up the price.

Big Increase: Giving two examples of meme stocks in 2021, shares of GameStop (NYSE: GME) are up 780% and shares of AMC Entertainment (NYSE: AMC) are up 1,300%.

Back to Earth: In the second half of the year, several of these meme stocks started to retreat from their highs, suggesting that the meme stock trend might have died down.

Final Thoughts: The meme stock craze has highlighted the power of retail investors.

Trends to Watch

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