Wall Street kicks off the last month of the year on a high: The Nasdaq and S&P 500 closed their first trading session in December at record highs, buoyed largely by tech stocks, including Tesla, which closed up 3.5%. Yesterday’s rise also piggybacked off their performance in November, which ended as the indexes’ strongest month of the year.

Markets are getting a boost from Trump 2.0: Donald Trump’s upcoming return to the White House helped push a rally in stocks last month, with strategists seeing upside from the president-elect’s “potential plans for tax cuts and deregulation,” according to Reuters. Investors are broadly positive on the incoming “pro-business” administration, CNBC says.

Upcoming data could rock the boat a little, but December will likely be a good month for markets: The US Labor Department is set to release November jobs data this Friday, which some analysts and investors expect will create some volatility in the markets, according to the Wall Street Journal. Investors are also keeping an eye on the US Federal Reserve’s next Federal Open Market Committee meeting, following remarks from Fed Governor Christopher Waller that he’s leaning towards a rate cut but has concerns about inflation levels.

Still, analysts don’t expect markets to skyrocket this month. “December seasonality is generally bullish, but there’s precedent for a pullback when the market is already up big through November of election years,” Bespoke Investment Group said, according to Bloomberg. The S&P 500 could end the year at 6.2k points — a little less than 3% higher than its November close — as the index is likely to “grind higher, but not rocket higher,” InfraCap CEO Jay Hatfield tells CNBC.

MARKETS THIS MORNING-

Asian markets are broadly in the green in early morning trading, buoyed by gains from Wall Street yesterday. The Nikkei and Kospi are both up, while the Hang Seng Index is just barely in the red. Meanwhile, futures indicate the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are set to open in the green, while the Dow Jones could be facing some selling pressure.

EGX30

30,525

+0.1% (YTD: +22.6%)

USD (CBE)

Buy 49.65

Sell 49.78

USD (CIB)

Buy 49.67

Sell 49.77

Interest rates (CBE)

27.25% deposit

28.25% lending

Tadawul

11,739

-0.02% (YTD: -1.6%)

ADX

9235

-0.3% (YTD: -3.6%)

DFM

4847

+0.5% (YTD: +19.4%)

S&P 500

6047

+0.2% (YTD: +26.8%)

FTSE 100

8313

+0.3% (YTD: +7.4%)

Euro Stoxx 50

4847

+0.9% (YTD: +7.2%)

Brent crude

USD 71.83

-0.01%

Natural gas (Nymex)

USD 3.20

-0.5%

Gold

USD 2661.60

-0.7%

BTC

USD 95,428.60

-2.4% (YTD: +125.9%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 rose 0.1% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 4.4 bn (6.1% above the 90-day average). Regional investors were the sole net sellers. The index is up 22.6% YTD.

In the green: Alexandria Containers and Goods (+6.3%), Eastern Company (+5.6%), and Palm Hills Developments (+4.6%).

In the red: Ezz Steel (-3.4%), Orascom Construction (-2.0%), and Cleopatra Hospitals (-1.9%).

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