{"id":708,"date":"2008-12-26T06:30:41","date_gmt":"2008-12-26T11:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=708"},"modified":"2008-12-26T06:30:41","modified_gmt":"2008-12-26T11:30:41","slug":"before-the-open-149","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=708","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Friday.
\nSo last night I logged in and checked yahoo sports to see when the Bears play. Then I realized today was Friday, not Sunday. That ought to tell you where my mind is.
\nNow until after New Years is considered a journalistic black hole. If you\u2019re trying to hide something, this is the time to make it public because very few will notice. So news out today and next week might be more important than you think.
\nIn Asia\/Pacific<\/b>, several were closed today. India lost 2.5% and Japan gained 1.6%
\nEurope<\/b> was closed.
\nFutures<\/b> here in the States point towards a gap up open. Nas 100 futures<\/b> are up 9 (0.76%) to trade at 1189 while SPX futures<\/b> are up 4.75 (0.55%) to trade at 869.75.
\nJapan’s<\/b> contracting economy got a slew of bad news Friday when government figures showed that industrial production plunged by its biggest margin on record in November, the jobless rate jumped and household spending fell.
\nNot surprising, Americans spent much less<\/b> on gifts this year than last. According to SpendingPulse, a division of MasterCard Advisors, retail sales dropped between 5.5 and 8% overall and 2 \u2013 4% when not including gas and autos. To me, this doesn\u2019t seem like enough of a drop. People are still spending beyond their means. Imagine when they start cutting back? But sales numbers are expected to be salvaged with huge discounts from now until the end of the year.
\nThe annual survey by the Washington, D.C.-based National League of Cities<\/b> found that city officials are more pessimistic about the economy than at any time in the past 20 years. Some findings of the NLC’s Dec. 19 survey:<\/p>\n