If you turn on the TV or pick up the paper, all you see is headlines about Black Friday.

If you turn on the TV or pick up the paper, all you see is headlines about Black Friday. Wal-Mart, Macy’s and J.C. Penney saw decent store traffic by opening up on Turkey Day, but perhaps doing so may have cut into Black Friday sales! Total Online Sales (YoY) grew about 19.7% on Thanksgiving Day and ~19% on Black Friday. According to an IBM survey, purchases via mobile devices increased by 40% compared to last year. The overall sentiment is that it is supposed to be a good year for retailers as there are still 23 more shopping days left for Christmas! The stock market had a great November with the DJIA and S&P 500 near record highs. Bulls expect stocks to perform even better in December. Precious metals are currently trading on the downside this morning. Gold saw a drop on speculation a stronger U.S. economy could signal tapering to occur as early as December. I guess we will have to wait until Friday when the Nonfarm Payrolls data comes out to determine if the Fed will begin paring its asset purchase program. For those of you who didn’t get to do any shopping this weekend, stay close by your computers for Cyber Monday J Have a great day!