Since our last monthly update we have seen the Presidential election mostly come and go, have seen the coronavirus cases spike, and have learned of two successful vaccines.  The country is split in terms of satisfaction with the outcome of the election, but investors are looking past the surge in the virus to the potential endgame the vaccines present.  That optimism is reflected in the performance of the S&P 500 index.  Year-to-date the Index has generated a total return of 13.5% at the time of this writing.  It seems investors are anticipating that the economy will return to the growth it was experiencing this time last year, before anyone was locked down and working from home.  Surely there is pent up demand for travel and leisure activities.  However, there is still an outsized number of people out of work and with the recent uptick in cases we can likely expect that number to climb further.