$Apple (AAPL.US)$ is releasing its Q4 FY2023 earnings on November 2 after the bell. How will the market react to the company's quarterly results? Vote your answer to participate!
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● An equal share of 1,000 points: For mooers who correctly guess the price range of $Apple (AAPL.US)$'s opening price at 9:30 AM ET November 3 (e.g., If 50 mooers make a correct guess, each of them will get 20 points.)
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Dear mooers,
We are coming to the end of a very unusual year full of uncertainty. Whether good or bad, we all witnessed the history.
Before you want to see what you can expect in 2022, let's have a little break and take a guess of the closing price of the S&P 500.
A happy ending or a tragedy? Go big or go home? Place your bet NOW!
Win Reward:
Place your bet on the closing price of the $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ (i.e.4800.11) on Friday...

BUY AND HODL OUR BELOVED STOCK $AMC Entertainment (AMC.US)$

A short squeeze can occur when a heavily shorted stock rises in value instead of falling. Short sellers could be looking to close out their position and can face a loss if they have to buy back the shares they initially borrowed at a higher price. 
Here is a look at Fintel's top five short squeeze candidates for the week of Dec. 27.
$Biofrontera (BFRI.US)$ $Reliance Global Group (RELI.US)$ $Petros Pharmaceuticals (PTPI.US)$ $Qualigen Therapeutics (QLGN.US)$ $Inspira Technologies Oxy (IINN.US)$
Mooers, let's look for the next  $GameStop (GME.US)$ or  $AMC Entertainment (AMC.US)$. 

Monday, December 27, 2021
By Danilo
$InnovAge Holding (INNV.US)$ $Lucid Diagnostics (LUCD.US)$ $Innovid (CTV.US)$ $Chesapeake Energy (CHK.US)$

This week is the "Santa Claus" rally, where the $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ and $NASDAQ 100 Index (.NDX.US)$ have been up 70% of the time over the last 19 years. With that in mind, let's look at a few top stock trades going into the last trading week of the year.
Top stock trades for today No. 1: Tesla
As for $Tesla (TSLA.US)$ now, the stock tagged the 21-week moving average and went daily up in Tuesday's session. With Wednesday's rally, it also reclaimed the 10-day, 21-day and 50-day moving averages and closed above $1,060, and $1,100 is in play.
Top stock trades for today No. 2: Microsoft
$Microsoft (MSFT.US)$ has been stalling a bit lately, struggling with the $340 area on the upside but finding support down near $320.
Working on its third-straight daily gain, the stock has reclaimed the 21-day and 50-day moving averages. If it can continue higher, I have my eye on that gap-fill level up near $339.
There it will also find downtrend resistance (Red line).
If it's able to push through this area, the next two upside marks are obvious: The December high at $343.79 and the November high (and all-time high) up at $349.67.
On the downside, though, bulls want to see the stock hold the $328 to $330 area — where Microsoft stock finds a bevy of moving averages.
Top stock trades for today No. 3: Twitter
$Twitter (Delisted) (TWTR.US)$ is a pretty interesting setup. Not only are most social media stocks under pressure, but Twitter has a recent CEO change. Despite that, the stock continues to struggle.
Shares are being squeezed lower by the 21-day moving average while clinging to the 200-week moving average.
If the stock can push through the 21-day moving average and clear $45, we could see a quick move into the upper-$40s and potentially the 50-day moving average (currently just above $50).
On the downside, however, we need to see the $41 level hold as support. Twitter stock is working off a minor higher low, but a break of $41 that's not quickly reclaimed spells trouble for the stock.
Top trades for today No. 4: Ford
Last but not least, we have $Ford Motor (F.US)$. I was so excited about this stock when it broke out over $20.50.
Not only is that level the two-times extension from the summer range, but it's also been recent resistance. Interestingly, the 161.8% extension from the same range has been support.
And they say Fibonacci extensions are meaningless.
In any regard, the breakout earlier this month sent shares to the 261.8% extension of the larger range, where Ford promptly reversed and fell back into its current trading range. Bummer. From here, let's wait for one of two things.
1. A breakout over $20.55, thus putting $21.25 back in play, followed by a potentially longer-term push up to $23.
2. A pullback to range support near $19 could also get us the first touch of the 50-day moving average since September and I like that setup as well.
Source: InvestorPlace

U.S. futures rise as traders mull virus, China vow
U.S. equity futures rose Monday and the dollar was steady against major peers as traders weighed spiking coronavirus cases and a weekend pledge from China's central bank of greater economic support.
$S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ and $NASDAQ 100 Index (.NDX.US)$ contracts gained, while those for Japan earlier pointed to a muted start. Crude oil and gold slipped. Bitcoin was trading at about $51,000 after a steady period over Christmas.
Meme madness, 68 new highs: superlatives abound in 26% S&P rally
Superlatives followed one after another in 2021's wild ride for U.S. stock investors. The most all-time highs in 26 years. Triple-digit rallies in some small caps thanks to retail-trader frenzies.
S&P 500's steady march higher has helped push it to a fresh record 68 times this year, the second-most ever, topped only by 1995. Put another way, the S&P managed a record close on nearly 30% of all trading days in 2021.
Holiday sales jump 8.5% as U.S. consumers return to retailers
U.S. holiday sales jumped 8.5% from last year, a report from $MasterCard (MA.US)$ SpendingPulse showed.
Sales surged 47% for apparel, 32% for jewelry and 16% for electronics compared with 2020, with all three categories up at least 20% from their pre-pandemic levels in 2019 as well. Department stores saw a 21% jump from last year and gained 11% from two years ago.
Online shopping surged 11%, according to the report, which tracks retail sales across all payment types. E-commerce now accounts for roughly 21% of all holiday sales.
Omicron drives Christmas weekend flight cancellations above 1,500
U.S. airlines have canceled hundreds of flights over the Christmas holiday weekend, citing an increase in Covid cases among crews. Airlines offered flight crews extra pay to pick up trips.
Carriers have asked the CDC to lower its recommended quarantine period for fully vaccinated staff.
'Bubblicious' used car prices are rising faster than bitcoin, market researcher Jim Bianco warns
Used auto prices are rising faster than bitcoin and other assets, according to market researcher Jim Bianco.
"In the last four months, they've gone up in price more than 20%. Not only is that more than the S&P, but over the last four months that's more than bitcoin itself," he said. "As of December 15, the latest set of data we've got, they're just accelerating higher and higher right now. There's no peak at least as of now."
In hot job market, salaries start to swell for white-collar workers
U.S. professionals toward the end of this year saw their compensation jump at the fastest rate in nearly 20 years, federal data show. Wages for all private-sector workers grew 4.6% year over year in the third quarter, according to federal data, with the biggest gains going to workers in service occupations and industries such as retail and hospitality.
For management, business and financial occupations, wages rose 3.9% in the quarter, slower than overall wage growth but still the fastest pace on record since 2003 for this bucket of workers.
Bill Gates: People's distrust of governments is the most worrying issue into 2022
In a 2019 poll of American adults, 75% of respondents said their fellow citizens' trust in the federal government was shrinking. And about four in ten respondents thought the mistrust made it harder to handle issues like health care, immigration and gun violence.
In Gates' blog post, he noted that 24-hour news cycles, politically incentivized headlines and social media have each played a role in the "growing divide" — and that governments may need regulate online platforms to effectively dispel misinformation.
Temasek-backed Vertex wins nod for SPAC listing in Singapore
Vertex has become the first blank-check company sponsor in Singapore to receive an eligibility-to-list letter from the local exchange.
Vertex Venture plans to invest S$30 million ($22 million) in the SPAC through the subscription of units and intends to contribute up to S$10 million of "at-risk" capital by purchasing warrants in a private placement, the statement said.
Source: Bloomberg, CNBC, WSJ

Hey mooers
Merry Christmas! Wishing you and your family a wonderful Christmas and a blessed New Year!
For this week's sectors fund flow board, I include S&P 500 sectors year-to-today's performance. Let's check out how sector performed in 2021!
From this chart, you will be able to find out what sector ETFs have most fund inflow. Fund inflow is often considered as a bullish sign of the sector and related ETFs!
^Weekly Sectors Fund Flow Board: a sector ranking based on sector ETFs aggregate 3-month fund flows.
^3-month fund flows: a metric that can be used to gauge the perceived popularity amongst investors of different sectors.
The latest sector updates:
*Tech
Technology stocks were finishing near their intra-day highs, with the $The Technology Select Sector SPDR® Fund (XLK.US)$ Thursday rising 0.6% while the $PHLX Semiconductor Index (.SOX.US)$ was advancing 1.0% this afternoon.
In company news, $Mercury Systems (MRCY.US)$ jumped out to a 10% gain shortly before Thursday's closing bell following reports activist investors Jana Partners plan to discuss possible options to improve shareholder value, including a potential sale of the defense electronics contractor.
$Cerence (CRNC.US)$ rose 9.3% after the edge software components company Thursday announced its "largest contract" ever, with a $149 million deal to provide a European automaker with its connected, conversational artificial intelligence-powered automotive assistant products.
$Apple (AAPL.US)$ was 0.4% higher, overcoming early weakness that followed reports the tech giant has temporarily closed eight of its retail stores in the US and Canada amid rising cases of COVID-19.
*FIN
Financial stocks continued to pad their pre-holiday gains, with the $Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF.US)$ rose 0.5% this Thursday.
$MARA Holdings (MARA.US)$ rose almost 11.7% after Thursday announcing plans to buy a "record number" of additional Antminer S19 XP bitcoin mining devices.
*Consumer
Consumer stocks extended their Thursday advance, with the $Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLP.US)$ climbed 0.2% while the $Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLY.US)$ rose 1.4% this Thursday afternoon.
$Scientific Games (SGMS.US)$ climbed 9% after withdrawing its bid to acquire the 19% equity interest in mobile games company $SciPlay (SCPL.US)$ it didn't already own after the two sides were unable to finalize a deal.
$Nikola (NKLA.US)$ gained 18% after the electric truck-maker tweeted late Wednesday its "first customer delivery (was) done" with "more to come."
Source: ETF Database, Standard & Poor's, MT Newswires