The Daily Feather — Keeping the Holiday Spirit Alive in Old San Juan

Two market holidays in the middle of the workweek may have you wanting for more…rest and relaxation. With power restored to 99% of the island yesterday, the good news is you can hop down to Puerto Rico to keep the holiday spirit alive. There you’ll join the world’s longest Christmas season, which started November 19th and roars through January 19th, culminating with las Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastián. An Old San Juan tradition since 1970, what started as a community fund-raiser today draws hundreds of thousands. Best seen from the colorful colonial balconies along the Calle San Sebastián, the highlight is a parade that’s become Puerto Rico’s answer to New Orleans’ Mardi Gras, albeit without beads and bared breasts. Whether folkloric or modern, the music is always outstanding on the main stage at the Plaza del Quinto Centenario. And while the party spills into La Perla, a beloved shanty town just beyond the city’s walls on the ocean, you must ask locals permission to take pictures in a sign of respect to the locals.

Investors are holding out hopes for a different sort of Christmas Miracle today. If the S&P 500 can clock a hefty gain of 1.8% by the close, the seven-day Santa Claus Rally will be restored. Rallies in the last five trading days of any given year plus the first two of the New Year have historically been correlated with January’s performance and that of the full year. And many thought Thursday’s first data of the year would be strong enough to ignite a monster rally. Initial jobless claims tumbling to an eight-month low of 211,000 in the week ended December 28th certainly sounded good. But, as Bloomberg Economics warned, “subdued take-up rates of unemployment benefits” continue to plague the series to say nothing of holiday noise. Continuing claims remain stubbornly high, and the balance of the day’s data did little to induce enthusiasm for the broader economy’s prospects.