See what’s driving market performance around the world in today’s Morning Lineup.  Bespoke’s Morning Lineup is the best way to start your trading day.  Read it now by starting a two-week trial to Bespoke Premium.  CLICK HERE to learn more and start your trial.

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice.” – T.S. Eliot

It’s a new year, but things look a lot now like they looked in 2022 with markets in rally mode and COVID cases continuing to surge.  There’s little in the way of catalysts driving this morning’s rally, and outside of the US, many international markets were closed in observance of the new year.  The economic calendar is light today with Markit’s final read on the manufacturing sector scheduled for release at 9:45 while Construction Spending is on tap at 10 am.

Read today’s Morning Lineup for a recap of all the major market news and events from around the world, including the latest US and international COVID trends.

For the next several minutes, every sector is on an equal footing with respect to year-to-date performance, but below we wanted to provide a last look at where things stood to close out 2021.  Topping the list in terms of sector performance was Energy (XLE) with a gain of more than 50%.  Despite the strong year, though, Energy was one of just three sectors to finish below its 50-day moving average (along with Financials-XLF and Communication Services-XLC).  Real Estate (XLRE), on the other hand, was the second-best performing sector of 2021, but it finished the year on a positive note gaining over 3.5% in the final week of the year and at more overbought levels than any other sector.  At the other end of the spectrum, Communication Services, Consumer Staples (XLP), and Utilities (XLU) were the only three sectors to finish the year up less than 20%, but of those three, strong finishes for both Utilities and Consumer Staples left those two sectors among the most overbought of all the sectors.

Start a two-week trial to Bespoke Premium to read today’s full Morning Lineup.