The Big Picture
The US jobs report disappointed as only 245k jobs were added in November compared to more than 600k in October. This may well be a sign of the economic recovery slowing down which isn’t all surprising given the worsening situation of the pandemic in the US with Joe Biden intending to require citizens to wear masks for 100 days. Meanwhile the US Congress seems closer to agreeing on a stimulus package after weeks of deadlock as the democrats lower their ask to just below one trillion USD. On the vaccine front the FDA advisory board will meet on December 10th to discuss the approval of the $PFE vaccine and 7 days later for the $MRNA vaccine.
Market Performance
The US market indices were all up this week, led by the Nasdaq which gained 2.1%, followed by the S&P500 (+1.7%) and the Dow (+1.0%). After reaching 30,000 last week, the Dow finished at all times highs again this week. Europe was mixed: the Stoxx was only marginally higher (+0.3%) whereas the Italian index finished 0.8% lower and the OMX20 fell considerably (-2.2%). The US Dollar was weaker, though, and depreciated 1.29% versus the Euro. This weakness sent gold futures higher by 2.9% this week.
Earnings
Some of the stocks we are watching released Q3 earnings this week as the earnings season draws to a close. $DOCU for example beat earnings expectations on both the top and the bottom line: I really like this stock but it is difficult to keep up such a growth rate. On the cybersecurity sector $CRWD also beat earnings and added about 1,200 new customer subscriptions. Ollie’s Bargain Outlet (ticker: $OLLI) beat earnings but it is likely to feel the pressure in Q4 due to mounting concerns about C-19 numbers in the US.
None of our stocks reported earnings this week.
Dividends
This week $MC.PA went ex-dividend and paid a 0.92% dividend. The stock finished lower this week but is now up 28% since inception. Two more stocks of our portfolio go ex-dividend in December.
Portfolio Performance
Our semiconductor stock $UMC is on a tear: with this week’s 27% gain our position is up 55% in just 6 weeks. We haven’t seen any significant news to justify this action and it may just be the market catching up on its compelling valuation: at Friday’s close price, the stock now has a PEG ratio of about 1 which makes it fairly valued.
Our Responsible Investor portfolio is now up 14.9% (15.9% including dividends) in 27 weeks. We are about 56% in stocks & ETFs and 44% in cash. I am always on the lookout for possible new buys and am keen to enter the insurance as well as the telemedicine sectors in the not too distant future. On my watchlist this week I have $DVA, $AMWL, $LMND and $AMT.
The table below summarises the portfolio performance since inception.
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Responsible Investor 