The Week Ahead: The economy continues to show signs of weakness as the ISM Manufacturing Index slipped under a key 50% level. Growth expectations for the 4th quarter is now near 2%. This week watch Monday's pending home sales, Tuesday's productivity and unit labor costs for the 3rd quarter as well as October's factory orders, Wednesday's weekly crude oil and gas inventories, Thursday's jobless claims, and finally Friday's all important November employment report.

Stocks to Watch: DirectV Group (DTV) is replacing the recently acquired Freescale Semiconductor (FSL) on the S&P 500 Index but looks to be tracing out an ending price pattern. Home Depot (HD) has been active and rising on takeover speculation by a private equity firm for a $100 billion dollar leveraged buyout but here too has had a sloppy trading pattern. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Nvidia Corp (NVDA) were subpoenaed for antitrust violations. Live Nation (LYV) an event promoter for concerts etc. had a price break out after a major brokerage started coverage.

Special Note: The recent dollar plunge has many worried that this hints of further economic weakness especially as it relates to foreign markets. Banks and retail stocks in general look weak as a result. Another area of concern is a Dow Theory non confirmation between the Industrials and Transports where the latter remains below its May 10 high. A scenario that often precedes a major price decline. Traders should remain cautious despite the seasonal bullish tendencies this time of year and spread risk proportionately in all asset classes.


Commentary provided by Barry Ward, Registered Principal, NobleTrading.com, Inc.

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