Data points to an abrupt shift in the sentiment and priorities of Americans when it comes to their personal finances since the outcome of the 2024 presidential election became clear. Demand for professional financial advice has increased, signaling a wave of financial repositioning. Both the quantity and quality of consumers seeking to adjust their financial plans have increased since the second week of November, 2024, according to data from financial technology company SmartAsset.

• Demand for financial advisors increased abruptly starting after November 6. According to internal data from SmartAsset, a company that connects consumers with financial advisors, the quantity and urgency of individuals seeking professional financial guidance increased over pre-election metrics.
   
• Out of major U.S. cities, the largest statistically significant increases in demand post election occurred in New York City and Philadelphia. In the month leading up to the election, Manhattan residents made up an estimated 3.12% of all consumers searching for financial advisors, according to internal SmartAsset data. In the month following the election, that metric increased up to 3.55% of all leads. Similarly, Philadelphia residents made up 1.03% of consumer leads pre-election, and 1.35% afterwards.

Santa Claus Rally in Jeopardy
Adam Turnquist | Chief Technical Strategist

The closely watched Santa Claus Rally period officially wraps up tomorrow. This historically strong seven-day stretch for stocks was first discovered by Yale Hirsch back in 1972. Hirsch, creator of the Stock Trader’s Almanac, officially defined the period as the last five trading days of the year plus the first two trading days of the new year.

The Santa Claus Rally usually generates a lot of headlines due to the market’s tendency to post strong returns over this short period — or perhaps it receives more attention because it occurs during a usually slow financial news cycle. Regardless, since 1950, the S&P 500 has generated an average return of 1.3% during the Santa Claus Rally period, with positive returns occurring 79% of the time. This compares to the market’s average seven-day return and positivity rate of 0.3% and 58%, respectively. Finally, back-to-back years of negative Santa Claus Rally periods are rare, occurring only in 1993–1994 and 2015–2016.

The SEC has settled charges against Becton, Dickinson and Company, a New Jersey-based medical device manufacturer known as BD, for repeatedly misleading investors about risks associated with its continued sales of its Alaris infusion pump and for overstating its income by failing to record the costs of fixing multiple software flaws with the pump. The order finds that BD revealed Alaris’s software flaws to the FDA in October 2019 and proposed that the agency allow it to continue selling the pump while it worked to fix the flaws and complete the lengthy FDA clearance process.

The FDA firmly rejected this proposal so BD immediately stopped shipping Alaris. But several days later, BD decided it would resume shipping the pump after fixing its software flaws – without FDA clearance. During an earnings call in early November 2019, BD misleadingly told investors that it was pausing Alaris sales to make “some improvements” to the pump as part of its strategy to “continually iterate and make enhancements to the platform.” BD also made financial forecasts for fiscal year 2020 without warning investors that those forecasts were based on conjecture that the FDA would allow BD to resume sales of Alaris without clearance. BD agreed to pay a $175 million civil penalty. You can read more about this case HERE.

Allianz Life 2025 New Year's Resolution Study - 35% anticipate their finances will improve in the coming year

KEY FINDINGS:

• 41% say they are more stressed about their finances than last year
• 38% say financial stability is their top focus area in 2025. Millennials lead the charge, with 44% prioritizing financial stability, compared to 37% of Gen Xers and 33% of Boomers.
• Health and wellness was the most common priority with 45% of Americans ranking it as their top focus for the coming year.
• 24% plan to build up emergency savings — up from 17% in 2023.
• 35% say they think their overall financial situation will be better next year