The stock market finished higher on Wednesday and remained on track for the so-called Santa Claus Rally. Such is the period covering the last five trading days of the year.
Overall, S&P 500 rose 0.1% to 4,782, while NASDAQ grew 0.2% to 15,099.
Tweet of the Day
The official Santa Claus Rally starts on Friday. It is the last 5 days of the yr and first two days of the next year.
Turns out, these 7 days are more likely to be higher than any other 7 days of the year, up 79.5% of the time.
Maybe you should believe. 🎅🦌🛷🎁 pic.twitter.com/2ca7XDu7pU
— Ryan Detrick, CMT (@RyanDetrick) December 20, 2023
Chart of the Day
Here is the ten-year chart of Mastercard (MA) as of December 6, 2023, when the stock was at $410.
MasterCard’s performance last quarter was impressive as the company grew profits a solid 26% on 14% revenue growth. Payment network revenue grew 12% and value-added services revenue increased 17%.
Value-added service revenue is getting a boost from cyber and intelligent solutions due to demand for fraud and security solutions. The company’s Safety Net protects issuers and acquirers from large fraud events via network monitoring when the customer may not be able to detect or defend against them. Safety Net has prevented more than $20 billion in fraud. In addition to fraud detection, Mastercard continues to see strong demand for consulting and card marketing services, which are also classified as value-added services.
MA is part of the Conservative Portfolio and Growth Portfolio.
