Now that the turkey-induced coma has worn off, it’s time for the market to get back to work. Heading into the final month of the year, we could hope for an early Christmas present and a strong rally, but that will be a tall order.

There are plenty of reports this week, but not one that could be considered ‘encouraging’. Both ISM reports this week are expected to show further contraction. The ISM Index is anticipated to show a slight decline down to a reading of 38, while the ISM Service report will likely show a very slight decline to 42.6. Both of these reports need to show a reading above 50 to indicate expansion, so they have a long way…

I have some bad news for the U.S. government; the taxpayers are not prepared to loan anything to anybody! Hell, total debt-to-GDP is over 350% already, maybe 450%, which is, either way, the highest, by far, of anything I’ve seen in U.S. history…

When I woke up, it was morning, which meant that the economic world did not blow apart during the night, abruptly waking me up by setting off loud alarms in the Mogambo Big Battle Bunker (MBBB), rudely alerting me to another outbreak of serious financial trouble from the economic cataclysm (”bust”) that I figure is right around the corner, now that the decades of irresponsible over-creation of excess money and credit by Alan Greenspan and his misbegotten Federal…

Gloomy economic picture fuels risk aversion… Financials, energy, retailers among top drags… Dow off 4.3 pct, S&P 500 off 5 pct, Nasdaq off 5.3 pct

U.S. stocks tumbled on Monday as signs of further deterioration in the economy around the world punctured last week’s market enthusiasm, with financial services companies and retailers among Wall Street’s biggest drags.

Major industrial companies also contributed to losses on signs global demand is faltering, leading investors to pare back risk in favor of safe-haven government debt.

With the holiday shopping season under way, investors feared that retailers may turn in their bleakest sales in many years. The S&P retail index declined 4.4 percent.

Department store Macy’s Inc tumbled 9.6 percent.

Consumers made repeat trips to…

The outlook is bleak for retailers, says Adam Lass. As job losses mount, households are cutting back on all non-essential spending. And massive government bailouts won’t reach the high street in the near future. Adam says investors should continue to short the retail sector.

This from Taipan Daily:

We came, we saw, we ate too damn much.

(One of these days, I’ll ask my oldest daughter to translate that into Latin for me. She never did master the more common romance languages. But she’s the family whiz at Cicero and Caesar.)

The second phase of the “Great Annual Pig Out” (the first being the candy-fueled grotesquery that has swallowed All Hallows’ Eve and the third, the week-long debauchery that is Chanukah-Christmas-New Years) is now officially…

Pack a lunch and blow the froth off a cool one…as I’ve got three days of gold and silver market activities to talk about…and lots of fascinating reading as well.

Wednesday, November 26th

This was the last day for all parties to get their gold and silver contracts switched to the 2009 year…or they would have to stand for delivery on Friday. With the U.S. in holiday mode almost from the beginning of trading, the tiny rally at the Comex open was stepped on and never recovered. But it hardly mattered…as volume was virtually non-existent. Silver was the same. Call the day a big zero. However, the shares reacted otherwise. Even though gold was down ten bucks at the close of the…

The Canadian Markets finished out the trading week in fine form with buyers jumping back into equities with a vengeance. For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange added 5.9%, while the TSX Gold Index tacked on 2.6% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, rallied 2.42% with the advancing issuers outpacing the decliners by a 478 to 353 margin on volume of 139 million shares traded.

Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) is temporarily suspending uranium-processing at its Port Hope plant in Ontario because of a dispute over supplies of hydrofluoric acid used in the production of nuclear fuel. The world’s largest uranium producer closed down C$0.24 at C$21.41.

Stornoway Diamond and partner Shear Minerals recovered 54 diamonds from a 2.95 kilogram sample…

The base metals were mostly mired in negative territory on Friday. Copper fell from the pre-dawn hours to mid-morning, then rallied back, finishing at $1.6414/lb., up a half-cent from Tuesday.

Nickel declined until nearly mid-morning, then rose, but not enough to take it back to break-even as it closed at $4.449/lb., down 9 cents. Zinc mirrored nickel’s performance, also ending down in the red at $0.5337/lb., down 2 2/3 cents. Aluminum had another weak day, giving up just over 2 cents to $0.7725/lb., while lead, despite a strong rally late, dropped 3½ cents, to $0.4946/lb.

Copper was little changed, but wound up November down 9.8% for the month. It was the fifth straight month of declines for the metal, marking the…

Two of the top emerging markets are grappling with food production and costs - resulting in higher prices in the months to come. The outlook for China and Brazil could portend higher grain prices, giving investors a chance to cash in on a potential rebound.

China’s higher food costs would result from a regulatory change, while Brazil’s food supply is feeling the pinch of tighter credit. In both cases, grain supplies will be affected.

In China, the government scrapped its 11-month interim price control measures on grain and some food products starting from this month after inflation began to drop.

Inflation had taken its toll on Chinese consumers, with food the biggest contributor to lower consumer spending.

For example, in January of this year…

In the energy market Friday, oil prices were sharply higher, with crude for January delivery closing at $54.44/barrel, up $3.67. January reformulated gasoline rose nearly 8 cents, to $1.2008/gallon.

Crude pushed up despite a strong build in stocks. In its weekly inventory report, the Energy Information Administration said supplies rose 7.3 million barrels in the week ended November 21, far above projections for a 400,000 barrel gain.

According to the EIA, gasoline supplies for the week rose by 1.9 million barrels, while distillate stocks fell by 200,000 barrels. Refineries were operating at 86.2% of capacity, up from 84.9% the previous week.

Traders, however, seemed to respond more to an interest rate cut in China than the inventory buildup.

However, the EIA report “increased…

In the currency market, the dollar was sharply higher against the euro. Late Friday, the euro was trading at $1.2874 vs. $1.3013 on Tuesday.

“For the currency market, the Thanksgiving Day holiday usually leads to low liquidity and thin volumes,” said Kathy Lien, director of currency research at GFT. “Although this should mean range trading for all of the major currencies, watch out for a post Thanksgiving Day breakout.”

The eurozone had a lukewarm response to a European Union proposal for a €200 billion stimulus package that would give the EU’s 27 nations a “toolbox” of measures that could be tailored to individual economies.

Meanwhile, the US economy served up another round of grim numbers.

The Commerce Department reported that sales of new…