Shopping and Leslie; Themis Thoughts November 29th, 2010

This weekend came and went quickly! Black Friday turned into Small Business Saturday, which turned into Spend-For-Jesus Sunday, and it all culminates today with Cyber Monday. We at the Arnuk household certainly did our part. On Black Friday we bought gas for the cars to drive down to the beach with the Connecticut In-Laws (remember my Thanksgiving? PS Mental note: Grandpa shouldn’t consume two Jack Daniels, 5 glasses of wine, 4 cups of tea, 5 bowls of Honey Nut Cheerios, an Entemann’s chocolate-frosted donut, blood-thinning medication, heart medication, and sleeping pills all after 7pm). On Small Business Saturday we frequented Target (it swallowed up all the local small businesses and hired the owners to get the carts out of the parking lot), and bought a new curtain rod. On Spend-For-Jesus Sunday we took the money that we would have put in the parish collection plate and gave it to my oldest son, who spent the dough in Five Guys Burgers and Fries. He is sleeping now. And smells like doom. Which brings us to today, Cyber Monday. I need to somehow make some money disappear through my computer. Wait. I know. I’ll trade through a VWAP Algo!

More Americans went shopping over Thanksgiving weekend than ever before (212 million versus 195 million last year). The average amount of spent per person surveyed, from Thursday to Sunday, increased 6% over last year, to $365. A better idea of how successful the weekend was will come on Thursday, as November same store sales figures are reported.

But channel checks from my expert networks tell me that sales were nice. They weren’t too poor. And they weren’t too grand. My expert network also tells me that the spending was concentrated on items that were for sale, and that if I am quick and pick my entry points correctly, I can buy some stocks and they will go up, at which point I should sell them, but only if they are going to go down afterwards. I have a terrible headache in my right eye. This is all silly, though. If we really wanted to goose the shopping numbers for the holidays season, heck we should just have high frequency market makers run all the transactions. Viola. Boom. Instant 300% increase in sales volume.

 

Today, please all smile when you remember Leslie Nielson, who passed away yesterday of complications from pneumonia. Today, more than ever, we need men like Lt. Frank Drebben:

Enrico Pallazzo

Best Friggin Umpire Ever

Favorite Leslie Nielson Quotes:

Frank: Do you know what it’s like to fall in the mud and get kicked, in the head, by an iron boot? Of course you don’t–no one does–that never happens.

 

Frank: It’s the same old story. Boy finds girl, boy loses girl, girl finds boy, boy forgets girl, boy remembers girl, girl dies in a tragic blimp accident over the Orange Bowl on New Year’s Day. 

 

Frank: Well, when I see five weirdos, dressed in togas, stabbing a man in the middle of the park in full view of a hundred people, I shoot the bastards, that’s *my* policy!
Mayor: That was a Shakespeare-In-The-Park production of ‘Julius Caesar,’ you moron! You killed five actors! Good ones!

 

Rumack: You’d better tell the Captain we’ve got to land as soon as we can. This woman has to be gotten to a hospital. 
Elaine Dickinson: A hospital? What is it? 
Rumack: It’s a big building with patients, but that’s not important right now

 

Frank: Wilma, I promise you; whatever scum did this, not one man on this force will rest one minute until he’s behind bars. Now, let’s grab a bite to eat.

RIP Leslie.

 

 

Where we left off 4:00pm EST:

INDU               11,092.00                    -95.28

SPX                 1,189.40                      -8.95

CCMP              2,534.56                      -8.56

Futures now at 7:30am EST:

DJA                                                     +27 

SPA                                                     +4.00

NDA                                                    +2.75

Key Data out today:

 

10:30:                                           Dallas Fed

 

Since the prior close, some key stories:

 

–       Leslie Nielsen dies.

–       Ireland gets $113 billion in aid. Senior Debt-holders don’t face haircuts. Interest rate higher than Greece. Portugal next.

–       Black Friday Weekend Sales Robust (NYT article)

–       Retailers feel that the biggest increases will be in discretionary items, as opposed to staples. Think Williams Sonoma, Tiffany’s as opposed to Sears I guess?

–       Wal-Mart bids for South Africa’s MassMart. Wall-Mass sounds dumb to me.

–       Senator Graham is predicting this weekend that Dems don’t have the votes to limit an extension of the Bush cuts.

–       US and South Korea have some war games. Kim Jong-Il puts diaper on his head and hollers.

–       Nigerian oil-region fighting threatens production.

–       Repsol seeks to raise $2.4b in Argentinian share sale. Hopefully high frequency traders will take down shares as an investment.

–       JP Morgan hosting conference call today at noon EST on Europe.

 

Earnings:

 

Pre-market:  BECN, SODA, NRGY, SNDA, GAME 

 

After the Close: TCM, CFI, JRJC, PSEC, VIMC

 

 

Significant Movers This Morning:

AMRN +20% (phase 3 trials) AMAG + 8% (labeling change announced)