News that Bush will freeze interest rates for up to five years for some subprime borrowers and an interest rate cut by the Bank of England (the European Central Bank kept interest rates at 4%) are topping the headlines. In addition, investors are also sorting through some mixed retail same-store sales (which include data for Black Friday), falling oil prices, and jobless claims along with the Monster Employment Index which sort of offsets yesterday's positive ADP employment report.
Premarket gainers: HOKU, NFI, ALOY, ENPT, GME, PTIE, JWN, DRRX, CLWT, NOVC, SGMO, BEAV, THRX, RBS, CPSL, JOSB, PLCE, VIP, FMD, XING, CBAK, VOLV, HCBK, MTLK, GIGM, CROX, ETFC, KONG, and SOLF.
Premarket losers: ZUMZ, SRP, GII, FRPT, DRIV, LMRA, ACGY, ANSS, CMTL, CHL, and CHNR.
Along with the Bush announcement, Kroszner will testify to the house on housing issues. Yet, I think for today retail sales will be the primary focus. As I've said before, more bad news on the consumer spending front is not what we want to see right now even though expectations are already fairly low.
Buckle up and prepare yourself for two difficult days revolving around the jobs report and all of the noise that comes with it. If you don't need to trade, this is probably a good time to tune out and let things settle out before pulling the trigger on new situations.
