Weekly Market Update December 8th, 2020

ROBARE AND JONES ON THE MARKETS

Despite some lackluster jobs numbers, markets still continue to reach all-time highs! It seems like every week we get a mixed bag of news about employment numbers and vaccine progress.

Unemployment has dropped continuously on a month-to-month basis since the peak of the pandemic, but seems that we're at a plateau. California has had waves of shut downs to many industries across the board creating a slight increase in unemployment, and even requiring that no NFL games are played in the state.

Multiple companies have announced their FDA stamp of approval on a vaccine, but we're seeing Pfizer administer their first doses to the United Kingdom. It seems as though the most anticipated vaccine in human history is attempted to have distribution structure in the middle of the holidays, a presidential administration change, and a rapid increase in COVID-19 cases.

Congress voting again on another stimulus package should help must some more life into the economy. At the very least, we have seen the mortality rate from the virus drop significantly. Hopefully this trend can continue leading life back to normal with simple things in life like family gatherings for the holidays.

For another week now, the energy sector posted the largest weekly percentage gain, up 4.5%, followed by advances of 2.8% each in health care. Utilities was the biggest dog from this past week, but only fell 2%. This week brings interesting national reports on consumer sediment including consumer credit levels from October.
 

Let's take a look at the benchmarks from this past week!

Scamming Season!
 

     "If someone calls you from 'Amazon' about $800 in charges and to press 1 if you did not make the purchase, DO NOT DO IT! Scammers are trying to get your personal information," a local police department wrote on its Twitter and Facebook pages.

One of the targets, retired police sergeant Ron Kroll, told the press that he had received one of the pre-recorded messages. The call, allegedly from Amazon, said that he had a pending charge of nearly $799.75 and that he needed to press "1" now if he did not make those purchases in order to speak with a representative.

Although he doesn't pick up unrecognizable numbers, Kroll told the outlet that he was expecting a delivery.

Unfortunately, these scams are nothing new. However, consumers are more at risk of being in Kroll's shoes during the holiday season when there is generally a surge in online spending. This year, with more consumers shopping online, there are even more opportunities for cybercriminals.

Con artists have recently been using the names of big-name companies, including Apple and Amazon, as their biggest weapon to trick consumers, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

Have you experience a scam recently?


CONTACT US