• Holiday Sales Beat Estimates: Total retail sales grew 3% during the holiday season, which was viewed positively since during the last recession in 2008 sales dropped -3.5%. The growth was driven by the 49% year-over-year increase in online sales. The strongest areas of growth continued to be related to home-improvement purchases like furniture while the weakest were those related to apparel and luxury purchases. 
• Google Still has Room for Growth: Even after surging over 30% in 2020 some investors still believe the company has room to grow. The positive outlook is partially driven by the increased likelihood that revenue will rise as the world opens back up (travel advertising spend is concentrated around google’s ad products). Additionally, while the forward P/E ratio appears high, its adjusted valuation can be viewed as more attractive. Why? When you take into consideration that some of the company’s most valuable businesses like Waymo (autonomous driving unit) lose around $4 per share each year and the company has net cash of $118 billion on its balance sheet (equivalent to $170 per share), it is in a strong financial position to continue growth
• China Prioritizes the Party: In September the Chinese government stopped the $35 billion IPO of the Ant Group, the finance company that was co-founded by Jack Ma (also founder of Alibaba). Last week China also announced an anti-trust probe into Alibaba that sent the stock plummeting over 15% in a single day. Meanwhile Jack Ma has been “advised to stay in the country” by authorities. The communist party will likely attempt to use this crackdown as an opportunity to show that while entrepreneurs such as Jack Ma or Pony Ma (founder of Tencent) can succeed and build businesses in China they are still accountable to the Communist Party and President Xi.
• Value Investing in the UK: the UK market has been one of the worst performing equity markets since Brexit was voted on in 2016. As a result, the stock market trades at a much lower valuation compared to many other developed markets. With the Brexit trade deal with the EU finalized on Christmas Eve, however, some believe the UK market is now an attractive value play. For example 40% of the FTSE 100 index is made up of companies in the financial, materials, and energy sectors all of which will benefit in a “re-opening” environment. Since the end of October the index is up over 15%.