I suppose we could ask Cliff what his views might be and they might actually be as rational as some of the stuff I’ve been reading. I see a leading democrat, Senator Patty Murray (Washington) stated it would be okay to go over the cliff then return later to work something else out. Some say the most likely compromise would be an extension of everything but that would just leave things hanging out there. Obama believes he has a mandate rightly or wrongly and if that’s the case he would use it right away rather than wait. In the meantime those wanting a higher millionaire’s tax (Buffett et al) haven’t flooded pay.gov yet with their voluntary contributions.

The U.S. experienced one of those semi-holidays, Veteran’s Day, with most markets open while bond markets were closed. In Japan the economy contracted 3.5% pushing the country to 5 recessions in 15 years. That must be some kind of failed Keynesian record. China reported a 19% decline in credit which shows what’s happening to consumers there. India noted a decline of .4% in industrial production vs +2.8% expected. Meanwhile inflation rose to 9.75%--they don’t do “core” rates as done in the U.S.—silly them!

Meanwhile in the eurozone no deal has been reached for Greece despite vote and Spanish bonds sunk in price but U.S. stocks shrugged off all this bad news as the machines were fully engaged.

The dollar (UUP) rallied slightly while gold (GLD) fell slightly. Commodities (DBC) were slightly weaker led down by oil (USO) and grains (JJG) primarily. Bonds (IEF) and (TLT) were flat overall. Stocks were led higher by  

biotech (IBB) and lower by homebuilders (ITB). Overall not much happened on this holiday.

Volume was light and breadth per the WSJ was slightly negative.

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