Moving right along. Seven Trillion two years ago -- eight Trillion today!

Quick Overview

• The Retail Federation said that U.S. shoppers spent $27.8 billion over the holiday weekend, up 22% YoY.
  

• Sales of previously owned U.S. homes fell 2.7 percent last month to a 7.09 million annual rate, the slowest since March, the National Association of Realtors said. The number of unsold homes was the highest since April 1986.
  

• The USDA 2005/06 U.S. Ending Stocks for Rice Are Projected to Decline 30 Percent to 26.2 Million Cwt U.S. Rice ending stocks for 2005/06 are projected at 26.2 million cwt, down 11.5 million cwt from a year earlier. The resulting stocks-to-use ratio is projected at 10.6 percent, down from 16.4
  percent a year earlier and the lowest since 1980/81.

• The USDA reduced the estimate of Brazil's 2005-2006 coffee crop from 36.5 to 36.1 million bags.
  

• Rail freight traffic declined for the week ended Nov. 19, but intermodal continued to rise compared to the same week a year earlier, the Association of American Railroads reported

• Retail sales in Japan were down 0.3% in October. The policy chief of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party said Monday the country had yet to beat deflation.
  

• Mexico's peso hit a 29-month high on Monday.
  

Shipping lines raise charges by 12pc: Effective Dec 1, 2005
Justifying the move, the ‘notice to trade” points out that all member lines are facing considerable increases in charter rates that continue rising dramatically. It also attributes the hike to a worldwide shortage of container equipment. “Consequently, delays caused by these factors and on account of congestion continue affecting all member carriers of the IPBCC and these have a detrimental effect on member lines’ ability to operate efficiently,” the notice added.

Newmont considers a bid for Placer Dome
"In India, the largest gold market in the world, demand year over year to June was up 47 per cent, China was up 14 per cent," Mr Lassonde said.

Brown's gold sale losses pile up as bullion price surges
In due course, Brown sold off 300 tonnes at just $275 an ounce - close to a 20-year low.
Roughly a third of the proceeds were then invested in euros - which then proceeded to plummet.

U.S. Farmers Use Pesticide Despite Treaty
Ruiz and Jorge Fernandez, two California farmworkers, say they saw plenty wrong in the strawberry fields they worked, starting with the dogs, birds and deer that lay lifeless when the workers arrived to remove plastic sheeting from fumigated fields. "That's how we knew this was a dangerous chemical," Ruiz said.

Pension Officers Putting Billions Into Hedge Funds
Faced with growing numbers of retirees, pension plans are pouring billions into hedge funds, the secretive and lightly regulated investment partnerships that once managed money only for wealthy investors.

Math + science = innovation, but US lags in the equation
Behind these moves lurks the fear that many young Americans are abandoning math and science at a time when students in emerging countries like China and India are mastering the subjects. China graduated 500,000 engineers last year, and India 200,000, compared with 70,000 in the United States, according to the National Academy of Sciences study.

Newmont Mining's gold predictions
MOORE: Five hundred US dollars an ounce?
LASSONDE: Oh well passed that. I believe that by early next year you are going to see five twenty five and down the road even a lot higher than that.
MOORE: What is a lot higher?
LASSONDE: The question is gold prices will have three zeros after the first number.
MOORE: Three zeros?
LASSONDE: Ah huh.

How powerful is the Federal Reserve?
With Bernanke about to take over, time for a reality check

'Black Friday' tepid; Wal-Mart a winner
The official holiday shopping season appears to have gotten off to a lukewarm start, according to results announced Saturday by a national research group that monitors retail sales. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. was one bright spot in the crowd, reporting its sales exceeded expectations.

Brokerage Firm Hack Endangers Investors
St. Louis-based Scottrade, one of the nation's largest private online stock brokerage houses, has alerted its customers that a hacker break-in may have compromised the security of an untold number of accounts

Scenes From A Bush Thanksgiving
Dubya pouts, Cheney scowls, no one brings pie -- and why is Rove looking at Barb that way?

Quick Overview

• Consumer prices in Germany were down 0.5% in November..
  

• YoY Hong Kong's GDP was up 8.2% in the third quarter.
  

• The European Union will cut its sugar subsidies by 36% and stop paying producers three times the world price. This is expected to be phased in over the next four years. Australia's sugar cane growers will benefit from the European Union agreeing to cut sugar subsidies, an industry spokesman said.
  

Foreign central banks add U.S. debt in week-Fed
Foreign central banks purchased more U.S. debt in the latest week, investing more money in Treasury and government-sponsored agency securities, Federal Reserve data showed on Friday.

Chart of the day

New York Stock Exchange "Volume" Advance Decline Line (Cumulative Daily Volume Breadth)

This chart is generated by subtracting the NYSE Composite "Volume" declines from that days "Volume" advances. The blue line plots the cumulative total.

Quick Overview

• The stock market was supported by a positive reading on the University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment. The index increased to 81.6 this month from 74.2 (a 13 year low) in October vs. 81.0 expected.
  

• The number of U.S. workers filing initial unemployment benefits rose by 30,000 to 335,000 last week, the Labor Department said.
  

• Assets of the nation's retail money market mutual funds rose by $1.64 billion to $829.60 billion in the latest week -- the Investment Company Institute said.
  
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that:
  Supplies of crude oil were up 400,000 barrels to 321.8 million.
  Supplies of unleaded gasoline were up 200,000 barrels
  Supplies of heating oil supplies were up 1.3 million barrels.
  Supplies of natural gas were down 8 billion cubic feet to 3.274 trillion cubic feet. YoY supplies are down 1%.
  

• The USDA said that world sugar production will be 144.2 million tons in 2005-2006, 3.6 million tons less than total use.
  

• Because of a NAFTA deadline, the U.S. has agreed to remove the 16.4% tariff on Canadian lumber, not right away. The U.S. wants to appeal the NAFTA decision as long as it can.
  

• YoY Mexico's trade deficit widened to $631 million in October from $564.
  

• YoY Japan's current account surplus shrank 28.8 percent in October,
  

• Canada's index of composite leading indicators was up 0.5% in October
  

• Brazil's central bank cuts its benchmark interest rate for the third consecutive month, despite higher-than-expected inflation.
  
  

• Gold mining company Placer Dome Inc. on Wednesday said its board is recommending shareholders reject a $9.2 billion takeover bid by Barrick Gold Corp.

Quick Overview

• Ben Bernanke, said Congress should limit the massive holdings of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in an effort to limit any danger their debt poses to the overall economy.
  
  

• Holiday sales at U.S. retailers may rise 6% over last year, up from an earlier 5% forecast, according to the National Retail Federation, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday
  
  

• The average U.S. retail price of diesel fuel fell for the fourth straight week, declining 8.9 cents to $2.513 a gallon, the Department of Energy reported Monday.
  
  

• The South African Chamber of Mines said that gold production totaled 72.4 tons in the recent quarter, down 15% YOY.
  
  

• The USDA said that as of October 31st, there were 15.52 million pounds of frozen bellies in storage, down 3% from a year ago. Frozen pork totaled 443.9 million pounds, up 5% YoY.
  
  

• The USDA said that there were 1.14 billion pounds of frozen orange juice concentrate in cold storage, down 25% YoY.
  

• The Commerce Department said that retail sales over the Internet totaled $22.3 billion in the recent quarter, up 26.7% YoY. Internet sales now account for 2.3% of total retail sales.

How the Media Can Restore Credibility They should be accessible. "Isolation impairs accountability," says Philip Seib, author of a book on reporting in the cyber era. An Ivory Tower mentality keeps news away. It's easier to track down Dick Cheney in his undisclosed location than to get your local news anchorperson on the phone. Too few newspapers and almost no broadcast outlets make it easy for their readers, listeners and viewers to contact their employees, whether to correct an error or suggest a story idea. Some newspaper websites don't even list their main phone number! Every newspaper by-line should carry its writer's direct phone number and email address, and they should be required to return their messages.

China stocks copper in Shanghai, prepares to cover LME positions
China is believed to have to scramble to meet the LME's requirement to deliver physical copper to approved LME warehouses. The futures contracts Liu traded will fall due on December 21, according to media reports.