Money

Gold futures on the COMEX for February delivery closed up 1.4% today, January 20, at $1866.50 an ounce. That's the highest finished for the most active contract on the futures market since January 7. Silver for March delivery closed up 1.8% to $25.766 an ounce. All the talk about the need for a big stimulus program, bigger even than in response to the global financial crisis and the Great Recession, has sent some traders looking for inflation plays.

Today the Standard & Poor's 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the NASDAQ Composite all hit record highs. Likely cause? The peaceful inauguration of Joe Biden as President? Yesterday's report of blow out gains in subscribers in the fourth quarter from Netflix (NFLX)? While the sigh of relief that the country wasn't enveloped in another wave of violence at the 46th President took the oath of office certainly played a role, my vote on causation today goes to yesterday's news from Netflix that the company added 8.5 million subscribers in the fourth quarter, far ahead of Wall Street projections for 6.03 million added subscribers. Netflix shares closed up 16.85% today.

After the market close today,January 19, Netflix (NFLX) reported that it had added 8.51 million subscribers in the fourth quarter. Wall Street was expecting an add of 6.03 million. In after hours trading shares of Netflix gained 13.13%.

When she was chair of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen's words would often move stocks. Well, she was at it again today when in her Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing for Treasury Secretary she told Congress to go big in coronavirus relief and economic aid. Stocks, which had been trading significantly lower in the morning hours abruptly reversed direction in the afternoon session. The Standard & Poor's 500 had been down 0.33% at 11:18 a.m. New York time, but it closed up 0.81%.

A late start, stimulus payments that still need to be issued, 2019 returns not yet processed. These are just a few of the issues that could make for a stressful 2021 tax season.