Doug MacGray’s Weekly Financial Update – Week of November 19, 2007
HOLIDAY SPENDING?: Americans skimped on furniture and sporting goods in October to offset higher energy costs. As a result, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. is anticipating “one of the weakest” holiday shopping periods in years. Meanwhile, a less-than-forecast 0.1 percent increase in wholesale prices reinforced traders’ expectations that the Federal Reserve will be forced to reduce interest rates again next month.
THE WEEK IN THE STOCK MARKET: The market’s volatility is driving everyone crazy, but the end result this week was a moderate advance. The Dow [+1.03%; +5.73%], the S & P 500 [+0.35%; +2.85%], and the NASDAQ Composite [+0.35%; +9.19%] all gained. One reason for the gains was a positive report from Wal-Mart. Despite the chilly retail sales report mentioned above, Wal-Mart posted good gains and forecast a fairly rosy holiday season.