US:
S&P 500 -1.65% (1,775.32); NASDAQ -1.51% (4,000.98); DJIA -1.65% (15,755.36) This week’s reports:
November’s Retail Sales rose by 0.7% from October’s +0.6%. Retail Sales ex Autos rose 0.4% from October’s +0.5%.
October’s Business Inventories rose 0.7% from September’s +0.6%.
November’s PPI fell 0.1% from October’s -0.2%. PPI ex Food & Energy rose 0.1% from
October’s +0.2%.
November’s NFIB Small Business Optimism Index rose to 92.5 from October’s 91.6.
Initial Jobless Claims for the week ending December 6th rose by 68K to 368K.
Continuing Jobless Claims for the week ending November 29th rose by 40K to 2,791K.
US stocks capped the worst week for the Standard & Poor’s 500 since August, with losses in oil producers and phone shares offsetting gains after the House of Representatives passed a budget deal. The stocks touched their lowest level since Nov. 12 as a better-than-forecast retail-sales report fueled speculation that the Federal Reserve will decide to taper asset purchases as early as next week. The S&P 500 has still surged 24% this year, putting it on course for the biggest annual gain since 2003.
The Congress passed a budget that limits automatic spending cuts and avoids another government shutdown. The deal protects entitlement programs favored by the Democrats and corporate tax breaks that Republicans have demanded. The Senate needs to approve the legislation and President Barack Obama has to sign it.
Canada:
S&P/TSX Composite -1.17% (13,125.70)
Canadian stocks touched their two-months low as declines among phone companies offset gains in gold producers. The TSX Composite Index has risen 5.4% so far this year, the fourthworst performer among developed markets after Austria, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Q3 2013 Capacity Utilization rose to 81.7% from Q2’s 81.1%.
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