Santa Claus Rally

Merry Christmas to you and your family. I hope you have a time of peace, comfort, and joy. This week the news talked about having a Santa Claus Rally which is the subject for this week. At the end is some trivia on Santa Claus so that you can answer the question is their really a Santa Claus? The first paragraph is the weekly review from Vanguard. I hope that you have a Wonderful Christmas!!!!!


Vanguard

As holiday shoppers grabbed last-minute gifts and Europe's leaders continued to search for solutions to their debt crisis, the latest economic reports offered more positive news than negative. Third-quarter GDP's lower-than-expected growth rate was still the best for the year, and leading economic indicators rose for the seventh straight month, while the battered housing market reported progress on a number of fronts. For the week ended December 23, the S&P 500 Index rose 3.7% to 1,265 (for a year-to-date total return—including price change plus dividends—of about 2.7%). The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose 17 basis points to 2.03% (for a year-to-date drop of 127 basis points).


Santa Claus Rally

A Santa Claus rally is a rise in stock prices in the month of December, generally seen over the final week of trading prior to the new year. The rally is generally attributed to anticipation of the January effect, an injection of additional funds into the market, and to additional trades which must, for accounting and tax reasons, be completed by the end of the year. The Santa Claus rally is also known as the "December Effect."
Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, and simply "Santa", is a figure with legendary, mythical, historical and folkloric origins who, in many western cultures, is said to bring gifts to the homes of the good children during the late evening and overnight hours of Christmas Eve, December 24.[1] The modern figure was derived from the Dutch figure of Sinterklaas,[2] which, in turn, may have part of its basis in hagiographical tales concerning the historical figure of gift giver Saint Nicholas. A nearly identical story is attributed by Greek and Byzantine folklore to Basil of Caesarea. Basil's feast day on January 1 is considered the time of exchanging gifts in Greece.


Santa Claus

Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, and simply "Santa", is a figure with legendary, mythical, historical and folkloric origins who, in many western cultures, is said to bring gifts to the homes of the good children during the late evening and overnight hours of Christmas Eve, December 24. The modern figure was derived from the Dutch figure of Sinterklaas, which, in turn, may have part of its basis in hagiographical tales concerning the historical figure of gift giver Saint Nicholas. A nearly identical story is attributed by Greek and Byzantine folklore to Basil of Caesarea. Basil's feast day on January 1 is considered the time of exchanging gifts in Greece.

Santa Claus is generally depicted as a portly, joyous, white-bearded man wearing a red coat with white collar and cuffs, white-cuffed red trousers, and black leather belt and boots (images of him rarely have a beard with no moustache). This image became popular in the United States and Canada in the 19th century due to the significant influence of Clement Clarke Moore's 1823 poem "A Visit From St. Nicholas" and of caricaturist and political cartoonist Thomas Nast. This image has been maintained and reinforced through song, radio, television, children's books and films. The North American depiction of Santa Claus as it developed in the 19th and 20th century in turn influenced the modern perceptions of Father Christmas, Sinterklaas and Saint Nicholas
in European culture[citation needed].

According to a tradition which can be traced to the 1820s, Santa Claus lives at the North Pole, with a large number of magical elves, and nine (originally eight) flying reindeer. Since the 20th century, in an idea popularized by the 1934 song "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", Santa Claus has been believed to make a list of children throughout the world, categorizing them according to their behavior ("naughty" or "nice") and to deliver presents, including toys, and candy to all of the well-behaved children in the world, and sometimes coal to the naughty children, on the single night of Christmas Eve. He accomplishes this feat with the aid of the elves who make the toys in the workshop and the reindeer who pull his sleigh.