Stock Market Live November 24: S&P 500 (SPY) Soaring in Holiday-Shortened Week

The major indices are coming back strong.

At the moment, the S&P 500 is up about 42 points, pushing the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) up about $4.33 a share. The Dow Jones is up 161. And the NASDAQ is up 235.

All as stocks attempt to rally after the head of the New York Federal Reserve left the door open to a potential interest rate cut in December. In fact, it was Federal Reserve President John Williams who suggested that the central bank cut rates in December.

He says the central bank can lower its key interest rate from here, as labor market weakness poses a bigger economic threat than higher inflation.

Fueling cut momentum, “The deterioration we’ve seen in the labor market, I think, is enough justification for the Fed to cut in December,” said Tom Porcelli, chief economist at Wells Fargo, as quoted by MarketWatch. After all, we did just see the unemployment rate jump to a four-year high of 4.4% for September. And there are signs that things may worsen.

With that, the odds of a rate cut are now up to 75% and rising.

Aside from that, we’ll see October retail sales this week, and the October Producer Price Index, both of which could help shape expectations heading into the Fed’s final meeting of the year.

Keep an Eye on Airline Stocks 

After taking a hit on the government shutdown, airline stocks are showing signs of life again.

Barring any more issues, major airlines expect to see another record-breaking Thanksgiving travel period. In fact, airlines could service more than 31 million people between November 21 and December 31. United Airlines (NASDAQ: UAL), for example, says that international trips are at a record for the holidays, already up more than 10% year over year.

Also, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, “The Federal Aviation Administration is gearing up for the busy Thanksgiving travel time and is ready to get more than 360,000 flights to their destinations.  We expect this Thanksgiving holiday travel period to be the busiest in 15 years, with Tuesday, Nov. 25, being the peak travel day with more than 52,000 flights.”

Nvidia Still Seeing More Upgrades 

Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) is still one of the top stocks to own, according to analysts at Bernstein. The firm, which reiterated an outperform rating on NVDA, says the data center opportunity is still significant and still early, with further upside likely.

Goldman Sachs reiterated its buy rating on Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Walmart (NYSE: WMT), noting that both are well-positioned for the holidays.

Also, analysts at BMO just upgraded MP Materials (NYSE: MP) to an outperform rating, noting that the dip is a buying opportunity.

With MP Materials, it’s benefiting from the rare earth supply and demand issues

With China’s tight control over rare earths and U.S. demand soaring, rare earth stocks are again center stage. In fact, nowadays, China wants to prevent the U.S. military from getting its rare earth supply.

And, as noted by CNBC, “Beijing will not allow the export of rare earth materials for use by foreign militaries, China’s Ministry of Commerce announced on Oct. 9. These are the first restrictions imposed by China that specifically target the defense sector, according to Gracelin Baskaran, a critical minerals expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.”

For one, it operates the Mountain Pass mine in California.

Two, the U.S. Department of Defense announced it was buying $400 million worth of MP’s preferred stock – positioning itself as the company’s biggest shareholder. And three, MP signed a $500 million deal with Apple, which agreed to buy rare earth magnets from it.

In addition, analysts see the stock rallying even higher.

Deutsche Bank, for example, raised its price target to $71 with a buy rating. The firm also said MP was finally “trading on the fundamental value,” and now represents a good entry point for investors looking to gain exposure to a great company, in a great thematic, in a great sector here in the U.S.,” as quoted by CNBC.

JPMorgan believes MP is set to benefit from supply-demand issues, too. The firm also upgraded the miner to an overweight rating with a price target of $74 a share.