Monday, stocks in Asia rose nearly 1%, supported by the continuing surge of stocks in Japan. In Europe they spiked 2.3%. In the U.S., stocks rose about 1.9% on low moderate volume. The banksters and politicians would like nothing better than to go into the Thanksgiving holiday and black Friday on a positive note. The VXO cascaded downward over 12%, dropping below 16 as the market average broke back above the 200-day moving average.
Things slowed down a bit on Tuesday as the Bank of Japan left interest rates unchanged. In Asia stocks gained 0.3% as did stocks in Europe. In the U.S. stocks closed flat on low volume. The VXO fell another 1% as it closes in on the ridiculous 15 level. Don’t worry, be happy.
Stocks worldwide rose about 0.3% Wednesday. With the Thanksgiving holiday approaching, U.S. stocks rose 0.3% on low volume. Fittingly the turkeys did well again with Facebook rising over 5% to close at 24.32 and IBM jumping up above 190 at the open and holding it all day.
Thursday, stocks in Asia rose a strong 0.9% on hope and particular strength in Japan while stocks in Europe followed suit with a 0.6% rise. Friday, the Asian stock market continued its winning ways, tacking on another 0.6%. The Nikkei continued to be on fire, soaring nearly 1.6%. Stocks in Europe rose 0.6% and in the U.S. they advanced 1.4% on extremely low volume.
For the week, stocks gained 3.5% and precious metals gained 4.5%. The S&P 500 Index first broke above its 200-day moving average, and then scaled above the 1400 mark. Thanksgiving week is prime time for those who seek to manipulate markets for fun and profit because of the low trading volume. While it’s true that we have a “cease fire” in Gaza and hope for a fiscal cliff agreement, the bottom line remains that stocks are priced too high. We’ll see what next week holds, but this abrupt rise seems unjustified except if explained as a short squeeze.
