November – COOPER GENERAL NEWS

US stock index futures rose in overnight trading on Sunday as key averages appeared to accelerate gains after the best week since November.

Dow-linked futures contracts rose 75 points, or 0.27%. The S&P 500 futures were up 0.3% while the Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.33%.

The S&P 500 closed at a record high on Friday, posting its fifth consecutive positive session for the first time since August. The Dow also has its longest daily winning streak since August, while the Nasdaq Composite posted its fourth positive session in five years on Friday. The tech-heavy index also closed at a record high.

“We are still in a bull market in the early stages of an economic recovery that is gaining momentum,” said Michael Wilson, chief US equities strategist at Morgan Stanley, in a statement to clients on Sunday. “We continue to recommend stocks with the biggest uptrend ahead of an improving economic environment as the vaccines are distributed and normal activities resume,” he added.

All three major averages finished the week in the green, each having their best week since November as fears that a handful of stocks could lead to a bottleneck that led to wider market contagion eased. The Russell 2000 is now on its longest daily winning streak since May, up 7.7% last week for its best weekly performance since June.

“Stocks continue to rise and should be around 4,000 for the S&P 500,” said JC O’Hara, chief marketing engineer at MKM Partners. “The trends remain positive … the severity of the spike should continue to attract quick money, but longer term patient money will be on the sidelines until a withdrawal develops,” he added.

The Senate and House of Representatives each passed a budget resolution on Friday that launched the reconciliation process that would allow President Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion bailout to get through the Democratic-led Senate by a simple majority.

The package includes stimulus checks worth $ 1,400, additional unemployment benefits, and Covid-19 vaccination and test funds.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday that the US could return to full employment by 2022 if Biden’s stimulus plan was passed.

“There’s absolutely no reason why we should have a long, slow recovery,” Yellen said during an interview on CNN’s State of the Union. “I would expect to get full employment again next year when this package is passed.”

Meanwhile, there is another busy week with 78 S&P 500 components on deck set to report quarterly results. Names on deck include Cisco, Twitter, Yelp, Uber, MGM, Mattel, GM, Coca-Cola, and Disney.

On the coronavirus front, contagious variants continue to spread in the United States. On Friday, Virginia health officials reported the state’s first case in South Africa to be first identified in South Africa. On Sunday, South Africa stopped distributing AstraZeneca’s vaccine due to its minimal effectiveness against the strain first identified in the country.

Vaccine rollout continues in the United States. “Stiefel locally is becoming more and more efficient at distributing the vaccine, and positive trial data has raised hopes that a third emergency vaccine will soon be available,” said Ryan Detrick, chief marketing strategist at LPL Financial. “When more of the population receives their vaccinations, economic activity can pick up and recruitment of highly competitive service occupations can resume.”

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A man enters a building that houses rental apartments in New York City on August 19, 2020.

Eduardo MunozAlvarez | VIEW press | Corbis News | Getty Images

Tenants returned to Manhattan in November, lured by a record drop in rental prices, according to a new report.

New rentals increased 30% year over year in November, according to a report by Miller Samuel and Douglas Elliman. This was the strongest November in 12 years with over 4,000 new leases.

The jump suggests the outflow of Manhattan residents, which began in March, may be turning as lower rates attract new renters and others returning to the city after months in suburban or country homes. The median effective net rent, or rental prices including concessions, fell 22% in November. In October, that was the biggest decline in its history.

The median rental price is now $ 2,743, with most landlords offering free rentals for more than two months.

“Lower prices created that trigger for inbound migration,” said Jonathan Miller, Miller Samuel CEO. “This is one of the first signs that the market may be improving.”

A real estate rebound in Manhattan is likely to take years, given the huge supply of vacant apartments, condos, and cooperatives for sale, realtors say. There are still more than 15,000 unlet apartments in Manhattan, and the vacancy rate – typically around 2% – is still at a record 6%, the report said.

In addition, many buildings do not even offer all vacant rental apartments, fearing that they will put even more strain on the market. Miller said this “shadow inventory” of unlisted vacant homes could mean the actual vacancy rate in Manhattan could be closer to 18%.

“It’s going to be an upward trend,” he said.

Many of the new tenants are asking for 18 to 24 month leases so they can keep today’s low rates longer, the brokers said.

According to information from brokers and landlords, new tenants are led by three main groups. There are residents who use the price cuts to upgrade their apartments and get more space. There are Manhattaners who have lived in the suburbs since March when coronavirus cases hit the city but now want to return because they can’t spend that much time outdoors – or miss the urban lifestyle.

“What clients tell me is that they tried the suburbs and missed the city,” said Janna Raskopf, a senior real estate agent at Douglas Elliman. “They say they miss going to a grocery store or coffee shop and not relying on a car.”

She said she has also had a number of customers who lived outside of the city – on Long Island or other suburbs – and sold their homes because of rising property prices in the suburbs. Now they’re renting in Manhattan to see if they like it and want to buy.

Realtors say another large group renting in Manhattan are millennials or younger renters who moved back with their parents for months but are now returning.

“They tell me I had to get out of there,” said Raskopf. “They want their own space back.”