02 Dec 2011 A Silver Lining?

It’s been a busy week in the world of finance. As you have no doubt heard, no thanks is due to the Congressional ‘super-committee’ in their failure to agree on cuts to the nation’s swelling deficit. Fitch, the last of the big three credit-rating agencies lowered the US credit outlook to negative making the probability of a downgrade from AAA greater than 50%. Retailers and investors popped Champaign corks on the news of Black Friday’s $11.4 billion record sales. US unemployment fell to 8.6% on the strength of 278,000 new hires and 315,000 Americans leaving the workforce. Manufacturing, housing, and construction data show improvement while American and European political leaders do not.