Home Depot, Wal-Mart, and Target reported their 3rd quarter earnings yesterday.

Home Depot, Wal-Mart, and Target reported their 3^rd quarter earnings yesterday. Although the retailers are doing better than last year, they are still not performing as per expectations. Realtors believe yesterday’s Pending Home Sales (MoM) were down .6% due to the government shutdown. Gold prices were down Monday morning after news about Iran halting its nuclear activity was released but bounced back up in the afternoon due to short covering and options related buying. All the metals with the exception of PD are trading on the upside today. The AMCU (Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union) have postponed talks about a possible strike over wages and will bring the topic back up for discussion in January. The Consumer Confidence numbers come out at 10:00 a.m. today. Other than that, it’s expected to be a quiet week in the markets as people are getting ready for Turkey Day.