"U.S. stocks went on a wild ride last week, with the Dow posting triple-digit losses one day and triple-digit gains the next. A fresh round of selling erupted on Friday as worries about Europe's debt crisis intensified, overshadowing an early frenzy of Black Friday shopping. With many investors out for the Thanksgiving holiday week, trading volume was more than 30% lighter than usual, said Chip Brian, founder or SmarTrend. And thin trading tends to lead to exaggerated market moves.
All U.S. markets were dark Thursday and closed at 1 p.m. ET Friday. "To the extent there's anyone around, it's all concerns about Europe," said Dan Greenhaus, chief market strategist with Miller Taback & Co. "The state of the consumer is also important but won't be known immediately, so that's taking a backseat to what's going on in Europe."
The Week Ahead
Black Friday, the first major shopping day of the holiday retail period, has come and gone. Now stock investors searching for clues about consumer spending will look closely at how the big stores fared.
The holiday period accounts for about 35% of an average retailer's revenue, and 10% of holiday buying takes place on Black Friday alone, said Chip Brian, founder or SmarTrend. Last year, the major indexes gained an average of 5% from Nov. 1 to Dec. 1.
Of course, domestic consumer spending isn't the only factor driving the markets." [Source: cnnmoney.com]
The DJIA Index finished the last trading session Down 95.28; and The SPI Futures are currently: Down 21 pts atm.
Of note in the US this evening:
Please note there is no noteworthy 'Economic news' due to be reported in the US this evening;
Gold is currently trading Down $10.90 & is sitting at US$1,364.20/oz atm [Source: Kitco] Oil is currently trading Down $0.10 & is sitting at US$83.76/bbl atm [Source: Bloomberg] The Dollar: The AUD is currently trading @ 0.9677 cents against the US Dollar[Source: Forex. Live]
