No sign of Santa yet – the normal “Santa Claus rally” that runs the second half of December and often well into the first quarter is nowhere to be seen yet. Meanwhile, markets in Europe and the US continue the pattern of starting out the day well and seeing gains fade, often into negative territory. Asia just continues lower.
Gold is off again today, as are commodities in general. It is another “risk-off” day. The dollar is up and I am considering putting some money there. Odd as it sounds, the US is the best of the major economies right now.
Meanwhile, Wall St. forecasters have the normal 10-12% higher forecasts for next year. We’ll see. Valuations are moderately cheap based on earnings but if things continue to go badly in Europe you can bet on contagion that crosses oceans.