November 26, 2012 Update

DJIA:13,009 NASDAQ:2,96610-YR TRS:3/32, yield 1.692% Oil:$88.28 EURO:$1.2976 YEN:83.394 

Micro

• SPZ: trading lower due to uncertainty regarding fiscal cliff and negotiations in the euro-zone about how best to help Greece.
• UBS upgrades Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc. (NASDAQ: DNKN) with a “buy” rating and set a target price of $36 on the potential of raising profitability. 
• Qatar Holdings announced their intention to sell £771 million worth of shares in Barclays (NYSE: BCS) through the liquidation of its’ remaining warrants. The fund will continue to be the biggest shareholder in the British bank though, leaving their 6.7% stake unchanged.
• Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) intends to hire 2,500 new employees for a logistics office in France. 

Macro

• Asian Markets: Japan stocks rally after Friday’s Japanese national holiday, China trades bearishly. 
• European Markets: trading lower as investors worry that leaders will be able to help Greece, and from the election in Spain which was won by Catalonian separatists (the pro-independence party). 
• Later today European finance ministers will meet and try to agree on the latest aid payment to Greece.
• With three weeks left before the US hits the “fiscal cliff,” it is rumored that republicans are willing to compromise regarding revenue increases and democrats negotiate in terms of cutting entitlements, the give and take on topics both political parties have been most stubborn about propagate sentiments of bipartisanship. 
• Black Friday results provide hope that consumers are willing to spend more this holiday season.
• The ICE dollar index (DXY) rose to 80.295, as the dollar is becoming more attractive as fear in Europe builds regarding the continent’s debt dilemma. 
• Argentina is expected to appeal in US court today ruling that it must pay $1.3 billion to its debt holders that refused to accept a haircut on balance sheets after the country defaulted on roughly $100 billion in loan in 2001.
• Mortgage rates have dropped to their lowest levels in recorded history, with a 30-year fixed mortgage rate of 3.31%, because of this the continued purchase of mortgage backed securities (MBS) by the Federal Reserve is expected.
• A United Nations conference on climate change in Doha, Qatar will begin today.
• The Bank of Japan released the tapes from the October 30th policy meeting, which portrayed the strong commitment of two members’ wishes to strengthen the central bank’s policy of “power easing.”

Black Friday

As it turns out, Black Friday was not so black after all with 89 million American consumers spending an average of $423, stimulating the economy with $59.1 billion! This is a 13% spending increase from $52.4 billion in 2011, with three million more consumers spending an average of $25 more per customer (Bloomberg). Small Business Saturday, created by American Express three years ago in an effort to support local business, can never compete with the discounts offered by corporations but is still expected to pull in enough revenue to help local stores stay afloat during rough economic times. Cyber Monday is expected, once again, to be the biggest online shopping day of the year pulling in a forecast of $1.5 billion (up $250 million from 2011) (comScore). The increase in spending represents more than just upbeat holiday sales and an increase in consumer confidence, but portrays the irony of the holiday season. Thursday night, Americans were gathered with family and friends to give thanks for each other and what they had. Come Friday morning, a mere few hours later, we are willing to aggressively fight one other for personal gain; which is, as such, the antithesis of Thanksgiving. Our ability to forget our sentiments of gratitude in the quest for acquiring more material possessions may be beneficial to the economy, but is it worth overlooking the true spirit of the holiday season?