Equities ended the abbreviated week on a s second best week of the year boosted beat economic reports out

t of Europe. For Dow gained 3.73%, and the Nasdaq gained w in previous weeks.[1]

bullish note with the S&P 500 having it by positive retail sales estimates and up the week, the S&P 500 gained 3.62%, the 3.99%, erasing some of the losses we sa

Although the holiday shopping season is just beginning, early information sugges ts retailers can expect a good showing this year. A recent consumer survey by De loitte suggested that shoppers would spend an average of $286 over the holiday w eekend, which is a 28% increase over a similar survey last year. Additionally, t he National Retail Federation forecasts holiday sales to grow 4.1% over last yea r. This is good news for retailers, who expect to make between 40-50% of their p rofits during the holiday shopping season. [2] Hoping to goose the start of the shopping season, some retailers began offering Black Friday deals on Thanksgiving Day. Interestingly, the promotional push may have stolen sales from Black Friday itself. However, if Thursdays numbers are add ed to Black Friday, stores still saw a total increase in sales of almost 1% over 2011, and store visits increased 3.5%, indicating that consumers are feeling co nfident and want to spend money.[3] The fiscal cliff is still very much on everyones minds, and despite reassuring ja wboning by lawmakers, we dont know how likely it is that we will see a resolution by Christmas. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke fanned the flames during a speech last week by commenting that if a resolution is not reached, the U.S. eco nomy will slide into recession. If that were allowed to happen, he does not beli eve that the Fed has the tools needed to help and that the economy would be on i ts own.[4] While this isnt a happy thought, its clear that Bernanke is using his b ully pulpit to push lawmakers into action. His message is clear: Make it happen, or youre on your own. Monday of this week is widely known as Cyber Monday, the largest online shopping d ay of the year. As workers return to their desks after the long holiday weekend, many are still in shopping mode, and retailers offer online specials to lure th em away from brick and mortar stores. It will be interesting to see if Cyber Mon day numbers are as encouraging as Black Fridays. Also this week, analysts will be turning their attention to the spate of economic reports being released, includ ing GDP, employment data, and consumer confidence. ECONOMIC CALENDAR Monday: Dallas Fed Mfg Survey Tuesday: Durable Goods Orders, Ben Bernanke Speaks at 8:30 AM ET, S&P Case-Shill er HPI, Consumer Confidence Wednesday: New Home Sales, EIA Petroleum Status Report, Beige Book Thursday: GDP, Jobless Claims, Pending Home Sales Index Friday: Personal Income and Outlays, Chicago PMI PERFORMANCE nov12 chart1126 Market Update 11/26/12: Upbeat Spending a Welcome Diversion

Notes: All index returns exclude reinvested dividends, and the 5-year and 10-yea r returns are annualized. Sources: Yahoo! Finance, MSCI Barra. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Indices are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly. N/A means not availa ble. HEADLINES iPad and iPhone dominate Black Friday online shopping. IBM found that 24% of onl ine shoppers used mobile devices, compared to 14.3% in 2011. The iPad was used b y 88.3% of tablet shoppers.[5] Greece closer to aid deal. After several days of bargaining and politicking, Eur opes leaders are moving closer to a new bailout deal for Greece. The IMF has agre ed to relax its debt-cutting targets for Greece, meaning the country may not be forced to adopt additional austerity measures.[6] Chinese manufacturing numbers are up. After seven consecutive months of slowing, an important manufacturing index is up as factory orders pick up. Since manufac turing forms a large part of the Chinese economy, this could indicate that the w orlds second-largest economy might be recovering from its slump.[7] Oil prices surge on Israel tensions. Oil prices rose above $88 a barrel, on incr eased tensions in the Middle East. A brewing fight between Israeli forces and Ga za separatists is causing supply worries, pushing up the price.[8]