Last week ended the uncertainty that the United States still did not have an elected president for 2021. However, the elections increased investors’ optimism to the point of taking Wall Street to four consecutive up days, closing Friday with a slight fall. This led the three most important indexes in the country to amass significant weekly gains: The Nasdaq 100 had a growth of almost 10% (weekly gain that it did not have since 2015 and that led it to reach a historical maximum at closing), the S&P 500 surged 7.4% and the DJI 6.7%. But on Saturday, after four days of suspense, it was announced in the United States that Joe Biden would be the new president - although Donald Trump has not yet recognized him as such. After this news, it is critical to keep in mind that Biden has stated that the priority in his government will be to promote an economic stimulus to relieve the economy and to restore relations with other countries (this will have very important effects on the markets, so let’s keep an eye on the stocks and currencies related to the announcements that will be made from now on). Additionally, it’s very likely that actions based on renewable energy will have a big push considering that his government plan is very emphatic on this and it’s possible that he will sign executive orders that will lead the US to rejoin an international climate accord and reverse Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the WHO (note that COVID-19 continues to expand and 50 states in the country reported record spikes on Friday, so news on how the pandemic will be handled in this government will be key to planning our trades). Biden is also committed to promoting lending to low-income communities and consumer protection laws so consumer-focused sectors could also have a major boost along with small-cap businesses (though this will depend on which party’s seat in the Senate will be filled and this may extend into January). But it is important to keep in mind that there are still two months of transition that could have significant implications for the market due to the movements that the current government will make to counter or reinforce these policies, and this week will be crucial to learn about this. Other must-knows:

• This week we are expecting earnings reports from McDonald’s, Cisco, Walt Disney, Lyft, Nikola, among other large companies, so let’s keep our eyes open.

• Today McDonald’s will hold an investor meeting to discuss strategic priorities to continue driving the sales growth that has led to a record recovery during this crisis, so they may project an accelerated growth in their share price.

• Volkswagen’s truck unit Traton acquired $3.7 billion in shares of manufacturer Navistar International. Volkswagen lent Traton $3.3 billion, repayable over a year and a half to fund the deal, so it appears they expect very rapid growth to pay off the large debt.