The Final Stretch: How You Finish the Year Matters

Welcome back to Hitting the Bid Weekly!

Around the Market

Equities tread water while volatility ripples beneath the surface.

The “Flat” voters are on a two-week streak with the S&P 500 (via SPY) slipping about 0.3% this past week to close at $681.44, down from $683.34. If you went on vacation, you’d think nothing happened in the equity market, but a quick look at the charts tells another story. Selling pressure from the prior week carried over, and while equities tried to rally mid-week, they were pushed back down to around $661 before recovering to roughly $671 by late Friday morning.

Momentum returned Monday as Big Tech and AI names perked up, seemingly buoyed by the U.S. Senate clearing a procedural hurdle toward ending the federal shutdown. The back-and-forth action left the index nearly unchanged for the week but showed signs of resilience as investors shifted from caution back to growth. Still, with several key government reports delayed, some traders may be hesitant to commit without fresh data. With about seven weeks left in the year, have equity bears shown up enough to counter the bulls who have pretty much dominated since April?

Other key market moves this past week:

The Week Ahead

Economic Calendar

• Consumer Price Index CPI (Thu 11/13 8:30a ET)*

• Producer Price Index PPI (Fri 11/14 8:30a ET)*

• Consumer Retail Sales (Fri 11/14 8:30a ET)*

*Data release may be delayed due to federal government shutdown

Notable Earnings

• Oklo Inc OKLO (Tue 11/11 after close)

• Circle Internet Group CRCL (before open Wed 11/12)

• Cisco Systems CSCO (Wed 11/12 after close)

• Walt Disney Co DIS (before open Thu 11/13)

Not an exhaustive list — just a few I’m watching closely for potential market impact.

On My Radar

A potential setup forms after an 11% pullback.

Earnings season has been mostly strong, but a few big names have needed a price reset before making another move higher. This week, I’m watching Microsoft (MSFT), which has pulled back about 11% from its October high despite beating on earnings per share and revenue. Traders and investors sent the stock from the $540s down to roughly $493 on Friday.

Price appeared to find support at the September 5 low, printing an indecision candle (open near close with long upper and lower wicks). Then, on Monday, a large-bodied green candle overtook Thursday’s red one. This three-day formation is often called a “morning star” cluster and can sometimes signal a bullish reversal. With implied volatility and IV rank both low, traders looking for a long setup might consider buying a bull call spread to create a defined-risk trade that benefits from an upside move. A volatility uptick would help, but the core thesis would be a short-term reversal higher.

What’s Top of Mind

Why closing the year with intention gives you momentum for 2026.

This weekend, while pulling our Christmas decorations out of the closet, I caught myself saying the same thing around this time: I can’t believe it’s almost the new year. Stocks are still swinging on headlines about rate cuts and the government shutdown, inboxes are filling with year-end wrap-ups, and the holiday season is starting to pull everyone’s attention elsewhere. It’s easy to coast from here. But these last 6-7 weeks can quietly shape how you start the next year.

Don’t get me wrong, I love slowing down to maximize time with family and friends. But I also like using the slower pace to catch up and finish the year strong. That doesn’t mean sprinting to burnout. It’s about looking at the list of things still pending or projects you meant to start months ago, and picking one or two to cross off before year-end.

It’s really about intentional follow-through. In trading, that might mean completing a yearly review now, studying your trades (both good and bad) so you can better spot patterns when the new year starts. At work, it might be wrapping up a final project update or making sure you meet with a big client to ensure they feel heard.

On a personal level, finishing strong might be finally closing out something small but meaningful: the half-organized closet you promised to tackle back in spring, booking that doctor’s appointment you’ve put off for months, or picking up the journal you abandoned in February and writing a couple of entries. Financially, this is also a good time to take inventory. Review your 2025 spending, make that last retirement or HSA contribution, automate one habit that makes saving or investing easier next year.

For me, I’ve started using AI tools more often and want to go beyond using them as a search engine, chatbot, or image generator. Over these next six weeks, I plan to find a novel way to use them. This could be building an app, creating an automation, or designing an agent that works for me even when I’m not checking in.

So before the year fully shifts into celebration mode, ask yourself: what’s one area of your life that deserves a confident close? The next few weeks are when most people take their foot off the gas. Maybe ease off it. But those who keep a bit of momentum going often start the new year already a few steps ahead.

💻 Let me know what you’re focusing on to finish the year strong! I’d love to hear about it.

P.S. Want to see more of my trades? Subscribe to my YouTube channel.

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Hitting the Bid content is for informational and entertainment purposes only. The information contained is not, nor is it intended to be, trading or investment advice or a recommendation of any security, futures contract, digital asset or alike. I may hold a position in the trading vehicles discussed. Trading and investing contains risk. All investors should evaluate their own risk tolerance, financial situation, and investment duration before entering any trade or investment.