• 2021 Outlook for Equities:  The bull case around equities rising further in the new year revolve around continued low interest rates, lots of liquidity, less political and global trade uncertainty, and a pandemic that will be resolved with the help of effective vaccines. The bearish case is based on the fact that even if many companies grow their earnings the megacap tech companies may hold the entire market back (if they do not experience as much growth as they have in 2020) given their current overweight influence.   Additionally, higher-than-expected inflation and a continued rise of covid cases could derail investors’ current optimism.
• Vaccine Distribution Accelerates:  As of Sunday over 211k vaccine shots had been given in 38 states. With Moderna gaining approval to also distribute its vaccine Friday evening the number of individuals receiving a vaccine should increase in the next few days. As of right now the distribution is based on state population size. Many critics are now worried about less developed nations recovering from COVID-19 as it becomes increasingly evident that wealthier nations like the US and Canada will have enough vaccinations for their entire populations while poorer nations may not receive vaccinations until 2022 due to limited supply and a lack of the ultra-cold storage facilities required for some of the vaccines.
• Walmart Tries Something New: Walmart announced that it would continue expanding its pilot program to add autonomous driving delivery trucks to its services. The move is not all that surprising, however, given the company’s strong focus on becoming more innovative. This has been evident over the past few years with the rollout of their subscription service “Walmart+”, their partnership with Shopify, their investment in Indian e-commerce company Flipkart, and now their new partnership (announced last week) with social media company TikTok to sell its products directly to millennials using the app.
• Congress Makes a Deal:  The $900 billion pandemic relief package will send direct checks of $600 to a majority of Americans and increase unemployment benefits by an additional $300 per week through March. The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) would also receive an additional $284 billion. Due to continued disagreement between Republicans and Democrats over both aid to state/local governments and covid-liability protection for businesses, there are no provisions revolving around either subjects in the bill, which will be voted on today. This spending package should help the millions of Americans that have fallen into poverty during the quarantine. 2020 has seen the largest annual increase in poverty since the 1960s.