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Solid holiday shopping season. Holiday sales grew 3%, beating forecasts for a 2.4% increase according to MasterCard’s SpendingPulse. Online sales rose 49% year over year. These results were impressive for a recessionary period—the comparable figure dropped 3.5% in 2008—and highlight the resiliency of the US consumer and benefits of stimulus.

Daily Insights

Stocks open higher after shortened holiday week. Stocks opened higher after the long weekend and after President Trump signed the coronavirus relief bill, averting a government shutdown.

• European stocks are higher in midday tradin

US and International Equities

This week, concerns about a new COVID-19 strain in the United Kingdom along with new lockdown restrictions have weighed on the markets even as Congress passed COVID-19 relief.

The major market indexes are heading toward a mixed close this week. Compared to the Dow Jones Industrial and S&P 500 indexes, the Nasdaq Composite Index has been this week’s best performer so far, near flat at over 0.1%. The Nasdaq is up almost 44% for the year, putting it on track for its best annual return since 2003 (50%).

International markets sold off this week. Emerging markets (

After modest growth to begin 2020, the economy screeched to a halt as the onset of the pandemic ended the longest economic expansion ever. A record decline in gross domestic product (GDP) in the second quarter was followed by record GDP growth in the third quarter as the economy emerged from lockdowns. After such a tumultuous year in 2020, we take a look at what’s in store for the economy in 2021.

2021 Economic Outlook

As we turn the page to 2021, we expect real GDP growth in the United States of 4–4.5%, modestly outpacing our forecast of 3.75%–4.25% for our developed international counterparts. Emerging ma

COVID-19 cases have been rising in several regions around the world, prompting many countries to implement new restrictions to curb the spread of the virus. Governments in a few European countries have rolled out what has been dubbed “lockdown 2.0,” and high-frequency data in the region, has shown a reduction in economic activity. While new restrictions are more targeted than those used in the spring, economies currently are in a more fragile position and some could even be at risk of a “double-dip” recession.

As shown in the LPL Chart of the Day, COVID-19 data in the United States has gotten worse in the