Business

While online spending surged, the overall picture for Thanksgiving weekend spending was more mixed as the traditional “bricks and mortar” retailers continued to struggle. Nevertheless, overall spending was about 4% higher. The National Retail Foundation (NRF) estimated that 174 million Americans shopped online or in stores over the period (Thursday to Monday), versus 164 million the previous year, although the latter excluded Cyber Monday. According to Bloomberg.

Former Goldmanite and current Minneapolis Fed president, Neel Kashkari, conducted another #AskNeel session on Twitter where the dovish FOMC voter (he was the only one to dissent to the Fed's rate hike decision earlier this year) received numerous questions. Among them was the following one from Zero Hedge:

While FANGs cratered in US markets, the turmoil in tech stocks has spread to AsiaPac with Hong Kong down hard as TATS tumble to one-month lows at the open...

Asia's "FANG"  equivalent - accounting for 16% of MSCI Emerging Market Stock index is TATS - Taiwan Semi, Alibaba, Tecent, and Samsung...

All four names are down notably in the last week...

Following the biggest tumble in South Korea Industrial Production (and the first rate hike by Bank of Korea in 6 years), it appears there are no dip-buyers yet. KOSPI is down at one-month lows...

Authored by Kevin Muir via The Macro Tourist blog,

I have often said that as traders, it is not our job to pass judgment on what should be, but, instead, to take advantage of what is. I will try to stick to that mantra when discussing the US tax “reform” package, but I must admit, it’s going to be tough for my feelings to not wiggle through.

As US stock benchmarks smash through one record high after the next – a central-bank driven phenomenon that disproportionately benefits the wealthy at the expense of the middle-class and working poor - booming credit-card debt is forcing more New Yorkers to seek assistance at the city’s food pantries this holiday season, according to a report in the New York Post.