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A Visit from St. Stock Market

‘Twas a week before Christmas with stock volume light. Bears were selling with few bulls within sight.

No news Monday and Tuesday let stocks lower drifted. Wednesday’s Nike and Fed-Ex earnings helped markets get lifted.

Investors cheered Thursday’s inflation data decelerating, but cautious consumer data swiftly ended the celebrating.

Friday’s bell closed, three markets down for the week; S&P and Russell off slightly, but the NASDAQ’s drop near 2 stood out as unique.

The 10-year Treasury 27 basis points rose; the Chicago Bears lost as Soldier Field fans froze.

We love following the markets during all of the seasons and think New Year’s will bring many optimistic reasons

One Week Remaining

China announced it would further relax COVID-19 policies and will no longer require the eight-day quarantine period for those traveling to the country. Markets reacted positively before slipping Tuesday morning.

In holiday-shortened trading week the economic calendar is light. It would be nice to see a Santa Claus rally to close out one a very difficult in the stock on an upbeat note. The market  has historically seen gains during the last trading week on low-volume as tax-loss selling abates and portfolio managers add to their favorite positions.

Stocks on the Move:

-13.7% Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation (GLDD) offers marine services. The Company deepens and maintains waterways, shipping channels, ports, creates and maintains beaches, excavates harbors, builds docks and piers, and restores aquatic and wetland habitats. Last week, GLDD provided a special up to Q4 2022 stating that revenues and gross margins were negatively impacted by weather delays, additional costs, and the earlier than anticipated retirement of a hopper dredge. The company stated that 2023 should be a more normal year with an improved bidding market and several large capital projects.

-10.9% Denny’s Corporation (DENN) operates as a full-service family restaurant chain directly and through franchises. The Company consists of more than 1,700 franchised, licensed, and company-operated restaurants around the world. Several quick-service restaurant stocks, including Shake Shack and Papa John’s, were downgraded by Wedbush securities last week on margin concerns. Additionally, Denny’s Buy rating was removed and replaced with a Neutral rating.

-13.4% CarParts.com Inc (PRTS) retails automobile parts online. The Company offers mirrors, engines, headlights, brakes, interior and exterior accessories, tools, wheels, lighting, bumpers, and other aftermarket autobody parts in its network of over 1.2 million SKUs. There was no significant company news last week.

+10.9% Flexsteel Industries Inc (FLXS) manufactures and sells wooden and upholstered furniture for the retail, contract, and recreational vehicle (RV) furniture markets. The Company’s products are sold to furniture dealers, department stores, and RV manufacturers. There was no significant company news last week.

+10.4% Value Line Inc (VALU) produces investment related periodical publications. The Company also provides investment advisory services to mutual funds, institutions, and individual clients. All total, Value Line collects data and provides analysis on around 7,000 stocks, 18,000 mutual fund and 200,000 options. There was no significant company news last week.

+10.1% BGSF Inc (BGSF) provides workforce solutions. The Company recruits commercial and professional staff in information technology, accounting and finance, light industrial, and real estate fields. There was no significant company news last week.

+12.9% 1-800-Flowers.com Inc (FLWS) is an e-commerce provider of floral products and gifts. The Company’s product offerings include fresh-cut and seasonal flowers, plants, floral arrangements, home and garden merchandise, and gift baskets. There was no significant company news last week.

-13.3% Orion Energy Systems Inc (OESX) manufactures, sells, installs, and implements energy management systems for commercial office and retail, exterior area lighting, and industrial applications in North America. It offers interior light emitting diode (LED) high bay fixtures; smart building control systems; and LED troffer door retrofit for use in office or retail grid ceilings. In addition, it provides lighting-related energy management services, such as site assessment, utility incentive and government subsidy management, engineering design, project management, and recycling. There was no significant company news last week.

The stocks mentioned above may be holdings in our mutual funds. For more information, please visit www.nsinvestfunds.com.


Happy New Year from the team at North Star!