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Strategies & Market Trends : The Epic American Credit and Bond Bubble Laboratory -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: russwinter who wrote (4100)	12/29/2003 12:16:15 PM
From: mishedlo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110194

Perverse Relationship. LOL How true it is wierd but Japan's only hope (it thinks is to support the US$). Gold up, silver up HUGE Treasuries down big Eurodollars down 2-4 ticks. On the last move in the 10 yr from 4.14 to 4.22 Eurodollars were down over 15. Hardly a budge this go around. M

To: russwinter who wrote (4100)	12/29/2003 12:59:08 PM
From: Silver Super Bull	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110194

I find this very hard to believe...especially the idea that Wal-Mart would significantly underperform in retail sales: Holiday Shoppers' Spending Meet Most Expectations By SHELLY BRANCH, AMY MERRICKand ANN ZIMMERMAN Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL In the end, Santa didn't let most retailers down. Official sales numbers won't be known for several weeks, but consumers' retail spending grew 6.5% for the Thanksgiving-to-Christmas shopping season, according to data showing MasterCard use during the period -- a healthy rise compared with tepid gains for the industry last year of 2% to 3% and another sign that the U.S. economy is recovering. The numbers, reflecting hundreds of millions of dollars in retail activity, are compiled by MasterCard Advisors, an information services unit of MasterCard International. The data were adjusted downward by MasterCard to reflect the extra day in the Thanksgiving-to-Christmas period this year. Including activity on that extra day, holiday retail spending on MasterCard rose 10.5% this year. The figures also don't reflect purchases or exchanges made between Christmas and New Year's Day, a period stores increasingly rely on to boost holiday sales. Holiday shoppers kept retailers guessing down to the wire. Department stores, jewelry stores and toy stores all saw declines in spending, reflecting increased competition from discounters such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which sparked a brutal price war on toys. Meanwhile, Wal-Mart itself said Friday it expects holiday sales through Jan. 2 to hit the low end of the 3% to 5% gains it had been forecasting, citing weakness in women's apparel and housewares. Internet stores had strong gains. On Friday, Amazon.com said this was its busiest holiday season ever, including one day when it logged sales at a rate of 24 items per second. Sharper Image said same-store sales rose 21% from Dec. 1 to Dec. 24.