Consumer Confidence Surges In November

I hope everyone had a nice three-day weekend. On Friday, the stock market closed at its highest level in six weeks. That’s especially impressive to see investors willing to hold stocks over the long weekend. We also broke above the 200-day moving average.

The S&P 500 is modestly higher this morning, although this should be a very quiet week of trading. The only major news is that shares of Sears ($SHLD) are getting clocked for a 20% loss this morning on the news that it’s closing 120 stores due to poor sales.

I have a feeling that at the end of this week, the S&P 500 won’t be terribly far from 1257, which is where the index started the year.

On Friday, the government reported that personal income and consumer spending both rose by 0.1% last month. Frankly, that’s pretty tepid but it basically fits with my view that the economy is recovering at a slow pace. The durable goods report was a bit stronger. It showed a 3.8% increase for November, which is the biggest gain in four months.

Today’s consumer confidence report was very strong. The index popped from 55.2 to 64.5. Wall Street was expecting 59.

Posted by on December 27th, 2011 at 11:05 am


The information in this blog post represents my own opinions and does not contain a recommendation for any particular security or investment. I or my affiliates may hold positions or other interests in securities mentioned in the Blog, please see my Disclaimer page for my full disclaimer.

Tickers: