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.