Welcome to Thoughts on the Market. I'm Mike Wilson, Chief Investment Officer and Chief

U.S. Equity Strategist for Morgan Stanley. Along with my colleagues bringing you a variety

of perspectives, I'll be talking about the latest trends in the financial marketplace.

It's Monday, November 30th at 11.30 a.m. in New York, so let's get after it.

A month ago, markets were in a much different place as investors were fretting about the uncertainty surrounding the outcome of the U.S. election

and the inevitable second wave of COVID-19.

Fast forward to today, however, and markets appear to be worrying very little about much of anything.

Part of this is due to the election having mostly been completed with the most

favorable outcome the markets were hoping for. A divided government

assuming that Georgia's Senate runoff leads to at least one seat remaining Republican.

Such an outcome is being viewed positively mainly because this means the 2017 corporate

tax cuts will likely stay in place.

In addition, we receive great news on the availability of two highly effective vaccines and

potentially a third one, all of which should be available

for mass distribution by the end of the first quarter.

This means we are getting closer to the end of this ordeal and that markets can start to discount

what a full reopening of the economy looks like.

Needless to say this will be very positive for many stocks, but especially those that have been

hit the hardest by the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown.

The good news is that these are exactly the kinds of stocks we've been recommending for months.

In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if regular listeners have grown tired of hearing me push small caps,

consumer services, materials, financials, and industrials.

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