Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street brunch, our Sunday look ahead to this week's

market-moving events, along with the weekend's top news and analysis.

Hello, today is Sunday, December 29th, and I'm your host, Kim Khan. It's another holiday

shortened week for Wall Street, with markets

shut on Wednesday, January 1st. But Tuesday, December 31st, the stock market closing bell rings

at 4 p.m. Eastern Time as normal, as it's the last trading day of the year. The bond market

will close early at 2 p.m. on New Year's Eve, though. Going into the final two trading days of the

year, here's where the major averages stand

year to date. The S&P 500 is up 25%, the NASDAQ composite is up 31%, and the Dow is the biggest

laggard, but still up 14%.

Kazar Alizunia, research strategist at Pepperstone, says the strong annual performance of major

indices demonstrates the market's resilience

throughout the year. While the current environment generates some caution, is important to frame it

within a year of strong gains. The key will be company's ability to maintain profitability

in a higher rate environment and the evolution of macroeconomic data guiding future Fed decisions.

Looking to other asset classes, spot gold is up 27% for the year.

WTI crude is down 1.5%.

Nat gas is up 36%, copper is up 5%, and Bitcoin is up 112%,

although that doesn't even crack the top three for the crypto's best annual returns.

The 10-year treasure yield is up 77 basis

points, which means the price is down about 20%. The continued rise in bond yields, driven by the

rate assessment of less restrictive monetary policy expectations, creates some concern,

...