The market declined sharply in this shortened session. By close, all three major indexes were off by at least 1.5%. News that Dubai government took charge of its corporate flagship, Dubai World, and asked creditors to defer payments made investors nervous about potentially another financial crisis. Interestingly, CNBC first reported the news on Wednesday but the US market paid little attention. Overseas markets had heavy selling the next day while the US market was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday. Today’s market action was more of a catch-up to the rest of the world. It should be noted that the US banks have no meaningful exposure to the Dubai debt problem.

All 10 major sectors finished the session lower led by materials and financials. The CRB commodity index tumbled 1.9%. The US dollar was higher against most major currencies. Treasury yields dropped. The three-month US LIBOR was unchanged at 26 bps. The VIX index jumped more than 4 points. The market breath was negative on both NYSE and Nasdaq. The volume was lighter due to shortened session trading.

No market comments for Nov 26th due to Thanksgiving holiday‏.

The market rose modestly ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.  Another 52-week low in the dollar was helpful to the equity market. Economic news for the session came in mostly positive. Personal income for October increased 0.2% while personal spending increased 0.7%. Initial jobless claims fell more than expected to 466K, the first time in a year that it fell below 500K. Continuing claims, meanwhile, dropped to 5.42 million. New home sales also showed a stronger-than-expected increase of 6.2% in October to an annualized rate of 430K. Finally, durable goods orders fell 0.6% in October while economists had been expecting a modest increase.

Most major sectors finished the session higher led by materials and consumer discretionary. The CRB commodity index jumped 2.3%. The US dollar was lower against most major currencies. Treasury yields dropped. The three-month US LIBOR was unchanged at 26 bps. The VIX index was little changed. The market breath was positive on both NYSE and Nasdaq. The volume was lower compared to the previous session.

The market retreated modestly on Tuesday as some participants chose to take profits following yesterday’s big gain. The third quarter GDP was revised lower to 2.8% from 3.5%. The revision was in-line with expectations. Despite today’s revision, the Fed raised its GDP target for 2009 to the range -0.4% to -0.1% from the range -1.5% to -1.0% according to the latest FOMC meeting minutes.

Half of major sectors finished the session higher led by telecom and health care. The CRB commodity index declined 1.0%. The US dollar was lower against most major currencies. Treasury yields were little changed. The three-month US LIBOR was unchanged at 26 bps. The VIX index dropped less than 1 point. The market breath was neutral on both NYSE and Nasdaq. The volume was lower compared to the previous session.

The market advanced strongly on the first session of the week. All three indexes gained more than 1%. There is no obvious reason behind today’s raise, but housing front brings more brightness to the market. Existing home sales for October increased 10.1% compared with previous month, which is strongly exceeding analysts’ expectation of 2.3%. That brings the annualized sales to 6.10 million units, while consensus is only 5.70 million. Moreover, housing supply was down to 7.0 months, which is the lowest since February 2007. Regarding to the greenback, after two days’ hike, it dropped closer to its 52-week lows. Meanwhile, gold price hit new highs both intraday and closing at $1174 and $1164.80 per ounce respectively.

All 10 major sectors finished the session higher led by telecom and technology. Although gold price hits new high, the CRB commodity index barely moved. The US dollar was lower against most major currencies. Treasury yields increases. The three-month US LIBOR was unchanged at 26 bps. The VIX index dropped more than 1 point. The market breath was positive on both NYSE and Nasdaq. The volume was on the light side.