Welcome 2021, what can be said from me that you have not either experienced or heard from news outlets regarding 2020 under the year of Covid-19? Currently, I can say I am hearing of more and more individuals being vaccinated, states John Person of PersonsPlanet.com.

Either I know too many older people, or more people in general are receiving the vaccines. This is the best news of all, in what was a bizarre year from every aspect of life. I wonder how Plato and the Greek philosophers would write about how the media and local politicians handled the event. Moreover, why do we not hear from global leaders demanding facts and retributions for China for their role in this pandemic?

Tuesday, January 5, is the State of Georgia’s runoff election with for a full Democratic control of legislature power. A Senate win creates a “gridlock” environment, which can be short-term bullish for equities. However, once reality takes over and we begin to comprehend the debt created during this pandemic, more importantly what change of habits from citizens around the world occurred, then we will see dramatic shifts in wealth. Will Interest rates rise again, ever? Can Bitcoin double in value? Will precious metals be in demand? Will we implement new infrastructure for urban development to accommodate the exodus of citizens from major cities? Will more major corporations depart from heavily taxed states? The bottom line is what will the shift be in terms of human migration? How will drug companies prosper? Will the fossil fuel industry become obsolete? 

For the first few weeks of 2021 we will more likely be contemplating the best market trends and investment ideas based on these questions. On an interesting note, the energy sector was down 33.57% in 2020, while the drug sector index was only up 5.48% while the banking index was down 13.63%. In the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin gained 304% in 2020, half that gain was made in the last two months. Gold did relatively ok, it was up 24.81%.

Best of all, we begin earnings season in just two weeks. In past years, one of the most reliable seasonal buys was in Netflix (NFLX). The stock is up 67% this year, earnings is due out on January 19. This is a widely known event and yet the more significant difference is this year Disney launched its own subscription channel! Two questions to ask, will Disney take away enough subscribers, and secondly, once a vast majority of people receive Covid-19 vaccines, will people want to sit around and watch more TV or do more outdoor activity and not want to sit around to watch TV?

For the record last, year Marine Max (HZO), the parent company to boat manufacturer, Sea Ray was up 109%, Lennar Home Builders (LEN) was up 39%, and Sturm Ruger (RGR) the gun maker was up 42%. The fact is people moved out of cities, bought vacation properties, guns, hunting and fishing equipment and boats. It also seems like fashion apparel sales were up as well. Trends change as do people's buying habits. At the end of the day, we still need to eat, provide shelter for our families, and enjoy life. How, when, and where we do that moving forward will help dictate investment opportunities.

Technically speaking: Weekly, monthly, and quarterly Persons Pivots show a continued bullish outlook. The volume trends were expressly light, the breadth indicators show a mixed story. The higher time frame weekly analysis remains positive, yet the daily advance/decline comparative ratio lines did not lead the rally for the month for all top indexes. Meaning prices made new highs towards the end of the month from Novembers close, but the AD lines did not break out to new highs. The McClellan Oscillator is slightly above its “zero line,” yet in a decisive bearish divergence, it suggests we had a weak volume rally with a negative breadth divergence. Either we need to see volume pick up with a more stocks making more gains, or we are setting up for a mid-January seasonal profit-taking corrective pullback.

  • My 11-week cycle high due date was made last week.
  • The SPX Volatility Index (VIX) closed at $22.75, reflecting there is still a concern for increased volatility.
  • The ten-day Average True Range (ATR) remains elevated in the E-mini S&P futures closing at 44.80, compared to the reading on Dec. 31, 2019, at 16.93.

Current stock positions:

  • Long full position in Junior Gold Miners (GDXJ) $41.46 using Feb. 19 Exp. 45 Put option in lieu of stop.
  • Long full position in Walgreens (WBA) $39.22 using Jan. 15 Exp. $32.50 Put option in lieu of stop.
  • Long 50% position in Marathon Pet. Corp. (MPC) $36.58, stops at 37.19.
  • Long 50% position in Schlumberger (SLB) at $19.80, stops at $20.34.
  • Long full position in Raytheon Tech. (RTX) at $69.96, stops at $66.45.
  • Long full position in Prudential Ins. (PRU) at $78.97, stops at 72.67.
  • Long 50% position in Dupont (DD) at $65.59, stops raised to at 67.41.
  • Long full position in Kraft Heinz (KHC) at $34.72, using $31.71 as the stop.

Good luck to you all in 2021 for a continued wish for abundance of health, courteousness towards others, and of course, prosperity. Last year as tricky as it was, my weekly advisory service managed to squeak out an accumulative gain of 222.36% in stocks only. We had 62 total trades with 19 losers, for a 69.9% success rate. The biggest loser was in Exxon (XOM) registering a loss of 13.63% with the largest winner being Discover Financial (DFS) generating a gain of 30.48%. The takeaway here is, we had more winners than losers and our gains exceeded our losses. It also shows where risk management always prevails and proves “stop loss orders are not for sissies.” 

To learn more about John Person, please visit PersonsPlanet.com.