Busytown

Two of the most maddeningly tardy elements of the recovery are finally showing signs of improvement.  Small Businesses and Consumers have been extremely slow to join the corporation-led rebound – so slow that their absence at the party has led many to conclude that a double dip was on the way.

But wait!  A flurry of datapoints are rolling out that contain some genuinely encouraging stuff for these groups.  Retail stocks have been the first to react to the below developments this morning, the $XRT is flat-to-up vs an S&P 500 that’s down .6%.

First, the Consumer:

Consumer Confidence Index (The Conference Board):  The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index®, which had improved in October, increased further in November. The Index now stands at 54.1 (1985=100), up from 49.9 in October. The Present Situation Index rose to 24.0 from 23.5. The Expectations Index increased to 74.2 from 67.5 last month.

Black Friday (ThirdAge):  The National Retail Federation says that new records were reached from Thursday to Sunday as U.S. consumers spent an estimated $45 billion shopping.

Cyber Monday (CNNMoney):  Online sales on Cyber Monday surged nearly 20% from last year, according to findings from an analytics group released Tuesday.”Cyber Monday came in as the biggest shopping day of the year so far,” said John Squire, chief strategy officer of Coremetrics, a unit of IBM Corp.

And Small Business:

Chicago Purchasing Managers Index (Bloomberg):  Businesses in the U.S. expanded at a faster pace than forecast in November, signaling the world’s largest economy was speeding up heading into 2011.  The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago Inc. said today its business barometer rose to 62.5 this month, highest since April, from 60.6 in October. Figures greater than 50 signal expansion.

Intuit Small Business Employment Index (MarketWatch): The monthly report found that small business employment grew by 0.24 percent in November, equating to an annual rate of about 3 percent. This translates to approximately 49,000 new jobs created nationwide.

Equifax Small Business Bankruptcies (WSJ):  Small-business bankruptcies among the 15 U.S. metropolitan areas with the highest amount of such bankruptcies fell 4.4% in the third quarter from a year ago, according to an Equifax Inc. (EFX) report, putting the year-to-date figure slightly lower than 2009.

***

The numbers we’re seeing aren’t red-hot, but they’re welcome in that they indicate a busier environment for those who have not much activity to cheer about just yet in this recovery.  Although US stocks came off their lows as some of this news began to be digested, the black cloud of Euro Debt Contagion still looms large over our markets.

This content, which contains security-related opinions and/or information, is provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon in any manner as professional advice, or an endorsement of any practices, products or services. There can be no guarantees or assurances that the views expressed here will be applicable for any particular facts or circumstances, and should not be relied upon in any manner. You should consult your own advisers as to legal, business, tax, and other related matters concerning any investment.

The commentary in this “post” (including any related blog, podcasts, videos, and social media) reflects the personal opinions, viewpoints, and analyses of the Ritholtz Wealth Management employees providing such comments, and should not be regarded the views of Ritholtz Wealth Management LLC. or its respective affiliates or as a description of advisory services provided by Ritholtz Wealth Management or performance returns of any Ritholtz Wealth Management Investments client.

References to any securities or digital assets, or performance data, are for illustrative purposes only and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others.

Wealthcast Media, an affiliate of Ritholtz Wealth Management, receives payment from various entities for advertisements in affiliated podcasts, blogs and emails. Inclusion of such advertisements does not constitute or imply endorsement, sponsorship or recommendation thereof, or any affiliation therewith, by the Content Creator or by Ritholtz Wealth Management or any of its employees. Investments in securities involve the risk of loss. For additional advertisement disclaimers see here: https://www.ritholtzwealth.com/advertising-disclaimers

Please see disclosures here.

What's been said:

Discussions found on the web
  1. paroles de chanson commented on Sep 06

    paroles de chanson

    […]one of our visitors not too long ago encouraged the following website[…]

  2. خرید vpn commented on Sep 07

    vpn ایفون

    make sure you pay a visit to the internet sites we stick to, this kind of as this a single certain, as it represents our picks through the internet

  3. خرید فیلتر شکن commented on Sep 10

    vpn ایفون

    Examine below, are some completely unrelated internet-internet sites to ours, nonetheless, they are most reputable resources that we use.

  4. sexawy commented on Sep 11

    sexawy

    […]The information and facts talked about within the report are some of the best out there […]

  5. FS19 mods commented on Sep 12

    FS19 mods

    […]The facts mentioned in the write-up are a few of the best obtainable […]

  6. farming simulator 2019 mods commented on Sep 12

    farming simulator 2019 mods

    […]we came across a cool web site which you could delight in. Take a appear for those who want[…]

  7. hot erotica commented on Sep 13

    hot erotica

    […]we like to honor numerous other internet web-sites on the web, even when they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Underneath are some webpages worth checking out[…]

  8. Stepfamily Porn Online commented on Sep 14

    Stepfamily Porn Online

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a few unrelated information, nonetheless definitely really worth taking a search, whoa did 1 discover about Mid East has got a lot more problerms too […]

  9. Stepfamily Porn Online commented on Sep 14

    Stepfamily Porn Online

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a couple of unrelated information, nonetheless seriously really worth taking a look, whoa did one particular study about Mid East has got much more problerms too […]

  10. پروکسی تلگرام mtproto commented on Sep 14

    vpn ایفون

    Just beneath, are a lot of totally not associated net websites to ours, even so, they could be certainly actually well worth likely over.

  11. Stepfamily Porn Online commented on Sep 14

    Stepfamily Porn Online

    […]below you will find the link to some web sites that we feel you ought to visit[…]

  12. houses for sale in los angeles commented on Sep 16

    houses for sale in los angeles

    […]usually posts some very fascinating stuff like this. If you’re new to this site[…]

  13. Dolce and Gabbana commented on Sep 16

    Dolce and Gabbana

    […]usually posts some quite fascinating stuff like this. If you are new to this site[…]

  14. Givenchy commented on Sep 18

    Givenchy

    […]below you’ll obtain the link to some websites that we think you’ll want to visit[…]