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NEWS
Ready Or Not, Here It Comes

Whether investors are ready or not, the final trading day of the year has arrived. As a result, many are harvesting tax losses and positioning their portfolios for the new year. Meanwhile, with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter passing away at age 100, the U.S. stock markets will be closed on January 9th in observance of the national “Day of Mourning,” making it three shortened trading weeks in a row. 👀

Today's issue covers cold temperatures sparking a natural gas hot streak, speculation amid small-caps continuing, and more from the day. 📰

Here’s the S&P 500 heatmap. 0 of 11 sectors closed green, with energy (-0.01%) leading and consumer discretionary (-1.61%) lagging.

And here are the closing prices: 

Most bullish/bearish symbols on Stocktwits at the close: 📈 $PERF, $NRGV, $LPSN, $WATT, $PGEN 📉 $BA, $WTI, $BYON, $VSTM, $JD*

*If you’re a business and want to access this data via our API, email us.

COMMODITIES
Natural Gas Soars On Dropping Temperatures 🥶 

Friday we discussed crude oil catching a bid and the Stocktwits community looking for the energy sector to improve into 2025. But today, natural gas is the star of the show.

February natural gas futures soared as much as 20% to a two-year high after The Weather Company and Atmospheric G2 released an updated outlook Sunday stating that January's temperature forecast has trended colder in the East. 🌡️ 

The report also suggested that the cold pattern in the East might hit a peak around mid-month. However, the forecasters expressed uncertainty about how temperatures might evolve in the second half of January.

Colder-than-average temperatures mean more heat will be used, and therefore, domestic natural gas demand will be higher than anticipated. 🔥 

Natural gas prices had fallen over 85% peak-to-trough from August 2022 to March 2024, but have been steadily trending higher since. Although temperatures will continue to drive short-term prices, long-term investors are focused on regulatory changes that impact domestic production and its ability to be exported. 🤔 

For now, though, Stocktwits users are bulled up on vehicles like $UNG and $BOIL, which track natural gas prices. In a down market, uncorrelated assets like natural gas can be a haven for traders trying to avoid equity market volatility until this latest bout of weakness ends. 🐂 

SPONSORED
Invest with the art investment platform with 23 profitable exits.

How has the art investing platform Masterworks been able to realize an individual profit for investors with each of its 23 exits to date?

Here’s an example: an exited Banksy was offered to investors at $1.039 million and internally appraised at the same value after acquisition. As Banksy’s market took off, Masterworks received an offer of $1.5 million from a private collector, resulting in 32% net annualized return for investors in the offering.

Every artwork performs differently — but with 3 illustrative sales (that were held for 1+ year), Masterworks investors realized net annualized returns of 17.6%, 17.8%, and 21.5%.

Masterworks takes care of the heavy lifting: from buying the paintings, to storing them, to selling them for you (no art experience required).

*3rd Party Ad. Not an offer or recommendation by Stocktwits. See disclosure here. 

**The content is not intended to provide legal, tax, or investment advice. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Investing involves risk. “Net Annualized Return” refers to the annualized internal rate of return, or IRR, net of all fees and costs, to holders of Class A shares from the primary offering, calculated from the final closing date of such offering to the date the sale is consummated. A more detailed breakdown of the Net Annualized Return calculation for each issuer can be found in the respective Form 1-U for each exit. The 3 median returns above represent the ones closest in percentage to the median of the 12 exits with holding periods over 1 year. Masterworks internally appraises artworks that are held by entities administered by Masterworks Administrative Services on an ongoing basis, and obtains an independent review of appraisals by a third-party appraiser on an annual basis.Appraisals are prepared in accordance with the 2024-2025 Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (“USPAP”) developed by the Appraisal Standards Board of the Appraisal Foundation, although it is noted that there are potential conflicts of interest given that some or all individual members of the appraisal committee are employees of Masterworks and Masterworks retains an ownership interest in the subject artworks as well as ownership of the Masterworks Platform. Masterworks compiles historical data from public auctions to produce metrics that we believe can be helpful in measuring and analyzing historical trends in artist markets and the historical price appreciation of specific artworks. See important Reg A disclosures at masterworks.com/cd.