Stocks continued their recovery on Friday morning, despite weaker-than-expected April retail sales data. The Commerce Department reported that U.S. retail sales were unchanged last month following a 10.7% jump in March. The reading was below the consensus call for 1.0% growth. The Dow rose 0.8%, the S&P 1.1%, and the Nasdaq 1.6%. Crude oil traded near $65 per barrel, while gold rose $16 to $1840 per ounce.

Stocks were largely flat on Wednesday morning following earnings reports from Alphabet and Amazon and new employment data. Payroll provider ADP said that U.S. private employers added 174,000 jobs in January, well above the Reuters consensus forecast of 49,000 and up from a loss of 78,000 in December. The Dow fell 0.2%, the S&P was flat, and the Nasdaq rose 0.1%. Crude oil traded near $56 per barrel, while gold rose $3 to $1836 per ounce.

On paper, most recent investment trends remained intact for the full year 2020. Large-caps outperformed small-caps; growth topped value; and domestic stocks returned more than international stocks. Will it be a value market in 2021? Will small-caps continue their recent strong run? Given low interest rates, we favor growth stocks and think that investors recently were simply taking some extraordinary profits from their winners in an extraordinary year. Investors seeking value are encouraged to look for dividend yields in the 3%-4% range. As for small-caps, the promise of a COVID-19 vaccine is encouraging for these companies, which typically don't have the strong balance sheets of large-caps and are thus more dependent on a strong U.S. economy. Small-cap valuations remain depressed despite the recent run, and this group continues to look well-positioned in 2021.

This edition features Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine; new coverage of Roku; an Australian home improvement retailer; and notes from Tencent, Palantir, and Aurora Cannabis

Stocks rose strongly on Monday morning after Pfizer and BioNTech reported that their coronavirus vaccine was more than 90% effective in a late-stage clinical trial. The companies also said that they had thus far found no serious safety concerns with the vaccine. Pfizer shares rose nearly 9%. The Dow rose 3.9%, the S&P 2.8%, and the Nasdaq 0.7%. Crude oil jumped more than 8% to $40 per barrel, while gold dropped $88 to $1864 per ounce.

What is it with Mondays in October? Last Monday, the major indices all fell 1.6%. Yesterday, the S&P 500 lost 1.9%, while the Nasdaq gave up 1.6% and the Nasdaq 100 fell 1.5%. This Monday, the smaller stocks fared worse, with the S&P 400 MidCap (MDY) and the Russell 2000 (IWM) giving up about 2.1%.