Looking Ahead: November 26 through 30, 2012

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Looking Ahead: November 19 through November 23, 2012

Markets in the past week were focused on political events in Japan, China, the U.S. and the Middle East where tensions between Gaza and Israel escalated. Economic data were mostly disappointing with both the Eurozone and Japan contracting in the third quarter. U.S. data for October were mostly lower than anticipated thanks to Hurricane Sandy. Next week, the Bank of Japan meets and the Bank of England releases the minutes of its meeting that took place earlier this month. Flash November manufacturing indexes highlight the week’s data — even though it is being released on Thursday — the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S.

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Looking Ahead: November 12 through November 16, 2012

The U.S. reelected Barack Obama to serve a second four year term as President. The financial markets immediately shifted attention to the fiscal cliff and its potentially dire consequences for the U.S. economy unless Congress and the White House can resolve the crisis before the end of this year. The Reserve Bank of Australia, Bank of England and the European Central Bank met and decided to leave their respective monetary policies unchanged. While U.S. economic data mostly beat expectations, data in Japan and Europe did not. China’s slew of October data showed a steadying economy. In the upcoming week, Japan along with the Eurozone countries release their first estimates of third quarter gross domestic product. However, investors will most likely be focused on both the European negotiations with Greece and fiscal cliff deliberations in the U.S.

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Looking Ahead: November 5 through November 9, 2012

Hurricane Sandy captured investors’ attention as the week began and forced New York markets to close for Monday and Tuesday. Despite the difficulties on the U.S. East Coast economic data were released in a timely manner — and they were mostly positive. However, that cannot be said about European data that showed unemployment continuing to grow while manufacturing continued to contract. In Japan, the Bank of Japan found it necessary to increase its asset purchase program. The Japanese government continued to apply pressure on the BoJ, threatening its independence. The big event this week is the U.S. presidential election on Tuesday. Investors are already looking past the election and to the resolution of the ‘fiscal cliff’ at year’s end. Three central banks meet — the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank. China’s monthly deluge of economic data is due along with global services and composite purchasing managers’ indexes. But the outcome of the election and its ramifications will occupy investors.

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