Monday, December 1, 2014

Economic Journal - Monday, 12/1/2014

(as of 7:30 AM PST)

Stocks are struggling at the start with investors attempting to analyze conflicting data.  International markets have set a negative tone, especially Europe, where manufacturing data seems to indicate that the Eurozone growth continues to struggle.  The US markets started down moderately with a weak Black Friday reading along with the negative international news.  Black Friday sales were down 11% due in part because retailers made preemptive sales prior to Friday.  Perhaps Cyber Monday will breathe some life into stocks as the week progresses.  On the data side US PMI, a key measure of domestic economic activity was strong and above expectations stemming losses briefly.  It will be hard for markets to overcome the disappointing Black Friday number so expect continuing negativity as the day progresses.  Gold is up sharply, while oil continues to struggle at record multi-year lows.

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