Wall Street Stages Rally on Rising Consumer Confidence

(eToro Blog) Consumer confidence rose by most in more than 8 years as Americans became optimistic about employment opportunities and income growth. The CB Consumer confidence index increased to 56 from 40.9 in October. Retailers are upbeat on the data and hope to see the sentiment carry into the end of the year holiday season.

The latest data shows that housing prices fell 0.6% in September in a blow to real estate owners and investors across the nation. The S&P / Case-Shiller index fell due to falling prices in Atlanta, Las Vegas and Phoenix. Only three cities, New York, Portland and Washington D.C., saw rise in prices. Despite some recovery in home prices after the housing crash of 2008 – 2009, housing prices have not yet recovered to their 2006 levels. By most accounts, housing prices are still down 31% from their peak in 2006. With declining home prices and tough credit requirements to get a mortgage, more and more Americans are turning to renting. The only sector of the housing market that has shown strong growth is multi unit apartments.

American Airlines filed for bankruptcy protection earlier today in order to reduce labor costs and debt. Bankruptcy protection allows the company to renegotiate labor union deals that were hurting the company and making it uncompetitive compared to its peers. American Airlines was the only major airline not to file for bankruptcy in recent times and lagged behind peers who have restructured their costs through Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the last several years.

Initial reports suggest that sales from yesterday’s Cyber Monday offers jumped 20% to $1.2 billion. Markets are up at the time of writing this report with the Dow up 68 points, the Nasdaq up 10 points and the S&P 500 up 8 points. Traders on OpenBook are long the Dow (DJ30) with average stops at 11,200 and average limits at 11,800. Later today, will have FOMC member Yellen and Raskin speaking on the state of the U.S. economy.

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