1) Economic growth revised downwards to 3.4% for the fourth quarter.
2) De Beers, the major marketeer of diamonds, is fighting back on lab-grown diamonds. For decades De Beers has refused to sell artificial diamonds, but the widen price gap is cutting into the sales of traditional diamonds, with artificial diamonds now 42% lower. With growing sales to the millennials, De Beers has invested in a factory to produce its own artificial diamonds.
3) The Dow had the largest single day gain in history of over 1000 points, a drastic reversal of the previous consecutive days of large losses. The sudden unexpected surge is driven by the best holiday retail sales season in six years, with $850 billion dollars in Christmas sales, making it a record breaking season. Fears abound that this will be reversed in the near future because of the troubled world economies.
4) 26 DEC 18 Stock market closings: Record breaking gains.
Dow 22,878.45 up 1086.25
Nasdaq 6,554.36 up 361.44
S&P 500 2,467.70 up 116.60
10 Year Yield: up at 2.80%
Oil: up at $46.62
24 DEC 18 Previous stock market closings (Monday):
Dow 21,792.20 down 653.17
Nasdaq 6,192.92 down 140.08
S&P 500 2,351.10 down 65.52
10 Year Yield: down at 2.75%
Oil: up at $42.87