Will Santa be good to us?

The market is doing a lot of up and downs over the last few months. The start of the month does not look that great to me. I am not too sure what C, FNM, CEMJQ, and OPC is not moving with the market as it was the case in the past. This is a puzzle to me. I am totally clueless. I am hoping for something which is not here yet. I am still optimistic about this market. I am sure the market will make a run, I just don’t know when.

What a terrible week and even worst weekend. I am looking forward to my trip. I just can’t wait to go to Vancouver. I guess I will have to wait another week. This will be really good for my wife. I think she will enjoy the trip.

- NEW YORK (AP) -- The economic recovery seems on track for slow but steady gains, after reports Tuesday showed growth in manufacturing activity, construction spending and contracts to buy homes. Private measure of manufacturing activity grew for the fourth straight month in November, though more slowly than in October. The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing executives, said its index read 53.6, down from 55.7 in October. A reading above 50 indicates growth. Economists were especially encouraged that new orders -- a gauge of future production -- jumped October. That suggested that manufacturing can continue to help sustain the budding recovery. A report on construction spending also signaled growth with the first increase in six months, largely on the strength of home building. The increase was slight -- just 0.04 percent. And in part it reflected a rush by builders to begin work before the expiration of a tax credit for first-time homebuyers. The credit was extended last month and expanded to some existing homeowners. Still, the increase appeared to signal that the construction sector is stabilizing and providing support for the fledgling economic recovery. A third positive report said the number of homebuyers who signed contracts to buy previously occupied homes rose for the ninth straight month. This increase, too, came as buyers rushed to take advantage of the homebuyer tax credit.

- DETROIT – General Motors Co. CEO Frederick "Fritz" Henderson stepped down Tuesday after the board determined that the company wasn't changing quickly enough. Chairman Ed Whitacre Jr. said at a hastily called news conference that he will serve as interim CEO, and an international search for a new CEO and president is planned. Whitacre thanked Henderson for his work during a period of challenge and change, but said it is time to accelerate the pace of rebuilding the largest U.S. automaker. The resignation comes just eight months after Henderson, 51, replaced former chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner, who was ousted March 29 by the Obama administration's government's auto task force. Henderson has been with GM his entire career and was the government's choice to run the beleaguered company after Wagoner left. Whitacre, picked by the government in June to be chairman of the new GM, is considered an industry outsider, having run AT&T Inc. for 17 years.

- PRETORIA, South Africa – South Africa announced ambitious new plans Tuesday for earlier and expanded treatment for HIV-positive babies and pregnant women, a change that could save hundreds of thousands of lives in the nation hardest hit by the virus that causes AIDS. President Jacob Zuma — once ridiculed for saying a shower could prevent AIDS — was cheered as he outlined the measures on World AIDS Day. The new policy marks a dramatic shift from former President Thabo Mbeki, whose health minister distrusted drugs developed to keep AIDS patients alive and instead promoted garlic and beet treatments. Those policies led to more than 300,000 premature deaths, a Harvard study concluded. The changes are in line with new guidelines issued a day earlier by the World Health Organization that call for HIV-infected pregnant women to be given drugs earlier and while breast-feeding. By treating all HIV-infected babies, survival rates should also improve for the youngest citizens in South Africa, one of only 12 countries where child mortality has worsened since 1990, in part due to AIDS.

- WASHINGTON (AP) -- Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner affirmed Wednesday the administration's intent to soon end the $700 billion financial bailout program. Geithner did not provide details, but said the government is close to the point at which "we can wind down this program" and end it. "Nothing would make me happier," he told the Senate Agriculture Committee. Some lawmakers have been agitating for an exit from the politically unpopular bailout program, approved by Congress at the height of the financial crisis in October 2008 as a way to supply banks with fresh capital. Geithner also said legislation to bring transparency to the global, unregulated $600 trillion derivatives market was needed soon to restore confidence in the U.S. financial system. Across the Capitol, meanwhile, a key House panel voted to slap new restraints on big Wall Street banks and to demand greater openness from the Federal Reserve. That cleared a significant hurdle in the drive for a sweeping overhaul of financial regulations, including the new derivatives restraints, and set the stage for a vote by the full House next week.
- NEW YORK (AP) -- ConocoPhillips said Wednesday it plans to slash its 2010 capital spending by 10 percent as it tries to shore up cash amid plunging profits. The nation's third-largest oil company intends to spend $11.2 billion on capital projects in 2010, 10 percent below its estimated spending in 2009. In its third-quarter report given in late October, ConocoPhillips forecast a 2010 budget of $11 billion. In 2010, about 86 percent of its capital program will support ConocoPhillips' exploration and production segment, while its hard-hit refining and marketing segment represents about 12 percent of the program, the Houston-based company said. "We intend to achieve our objectives of organically replacing reserves and increasing our upstream production from a reduced, more strategic asset base, consistent with our recently announced portfolio optimization plan," said Jim Mulva, CEO of ConocoPhillips. The Houston-based company previously said it would cut capital expenditures and shed $10 billion in assets to help pay off debt and improve its cash position amid sagging profits.

- TORONTO (Reuters) – Canadian health officials said on Wednesday that the H1N1 flu outbreak might have reached its peak in Canada, but cautioned that the fight is not yet over. David Butler-Jones, Canada's chief public health officer, said that while some areas of the country have displayed reduced incidents of swine flu, other regions have seen an uptick in cases in recent weeks. "We are trying to be very careful when using the term 'the peak'. We won't know we have reached a peak in flu activity until we are clearly on the other side of it," he said during a conference call. "Passing a peak in activity doesn't mean we decrease our concern. Coming down the mountain is as treacherous as climbing it," he added. Both Butler-Jones and Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, reiterated the need for all Canadians to be immunized, noting that only about one-third of Canadian are immune to the disease because they have been vaccinated or have already been infected by the H1N1 pandemic virus. "If the vast majority of Canadians get immunized we will not see much of this disease moving forward," said Butler-Jones. The World Health Organization said last month that the H1N1 flu was moving eastward across Europe and Asia after appearing to peak in parts of Western Europe and the United States. At least 6,770 deaths have been recorded worldwide since the swine flu virus emerged in April -- but officials always stress the confirmed numbers represent only a fraction of the actual cases, as most patients never get tested.

- MOGADISHU, Somalia – A male suicide bomber dressed as a woman attacked a graduation ceremony Thursday in a small part of the capital still under government control, killing 22 people, including three Cabinet ministers, doctors and medical students. The attack was a severe blow to a country long battered by war and underscored the government's tenuous hold even on its small area of Mogadishu. African Union peacekeeping troops protecting the government wage near daily battles with Islamic militants who hold much of central and southern Somalia and act so brazenly in the capital that they carry out public executions. "What happened today is a national disaster," said Somali Information Minister Dahir Mohamud Gelle, who confirmed that the ministers for education, higher education and health were killed in the blast. The ministers for sports and tourism were wounded in the attack inside the Shamo Hotel, he said. The assailants hit one of Somalia's most important efforts to extricate itself from anarchy and violence, explaining the presence of so many top government officials. The former medical students among the graduates came from only the second class to receive diplomas from the medical school.

- NEW YORK (AP) -- The nation's retailers posted a surprise sales decline for November after two consecutive months of gains, as a modestly positive start to holiday shopping wasn't strong enough to offset weak spending the rest of the month. The 0.3 percent decrease, according to one measure, is especially worrisome because it comes on top of a freefall last November as spooked shoppers went into a defensive crouch after the financial meltdown. Analyst had expected a strong gain. Analysts caution that a better gauge of the month may lie in government retail sales numbers, slated to be released Dec. 11. The numbers offer a broader view of spending, including online sales and results from electronics chains -- two bright spots for the holiday season, analysts said. Thursday's figures also don't include Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer. Warm weather also was a factor in depressing shoppers' appetite for seasonal apparel like coats and sweaters, analysts said. Nevertheless, most retailers' sluggish results missed already modest forecasts, a worrisome sign for an economy in the early stages of a fragile recovery. Now, merchants may have to step up discounting beyond what's planned as they try to entice financially strapped shoppers back to the stores in a season that is at best expected to be unchanged from a year ago.

- DUBLIN – A major Irish order of Roman Catholic nuns, the Sisters of Mercy, offered Thursday to pay child abuse victims, the government and charities a further euro128 million ($193.5 million) to compensate for decades of abuse in its schools and orphanages. The compensation offer to the Irish Education Department is by far the largest from 18 orders of Catholic priests, brothers and nuns found guilty of chronic child abuse. They ran scores of residential schools, workhouses and orphanages for generations of Ireland's most deprived children from the mid-19th century to the 1990s. The Sisters of Mercy said in a statement it "wholeheartedly regrets the suffering experienced by the children in their care" and hoped this latest offer would show that its nuns were being "faithful to the values of reparation, reconciliation, healing and responsibility." A nine-year state investigation in May ruled that all the orders permitted and covered up endemic rape, molestation, beatings and mental cruelty in their children's institutions. The government responded by demanding that the orders pay much more to help cover compensation payments to more than 14,000 abuse claimants worldwide topping euro1 billion ($1.5 billion).

- Bangladesh ferry death toll rises
At least 49 people have been killed and scores are missing following a ferry accident in the south of Bangladesh. MV Coco-4, which was carrying more than 1,000 people, was travelling overnight from Dhaka, the capital, to Bhola island on the country's southern tip when it sank close to the village of Nazirpura. Zakir Hossain, a police chief at the village which lies 250km south of Dhaka, said the death toll was likely to rise as dozens of people were believed to be trapped in cabins and in the hold under water. Local media reported the ferry started taking in water after it hit a raised section of the river bed in heavy fog on Friday. Amid the commotion of hundreds of passengers trying to disembark, a stampede ensued which caused the ferry to tip and take in water.

- PARIS - The decision by Swiss voters to ban minarets on Muslim houses of worship resonated across neighboring France on Monday, stoking an already emotional debate on whether burkas should be banned in public and coloring a government-sponsored debate over what it means to be French. Commentators and officials in France and across Europe took sides Monday on the surprise Swiss decision, passed in a referendum the previous day. French lawmakers who support banning the burka, the all-covering garment worn by some Muslim women, defended themselves against accusations that the move would fuel a growing phobia against Islam in Europe. French Socialist Party spokesman Benoit Hamon said the Swiss decision in effect blamed Muslims for "all of Western society's ills," and compared it to the three-month-long public debates on French identity spearheaded by conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy. "I regret that the president is surrendering himself to this type of stigmatization of foreigners and immigrants by associating national identity and immigration," Hamon said on RTL French radio. Immigration Minister Eric Besson, who is organizing the nationwide debates, said the Swiss ban on minarets stigmatized Islam. Instead, he said, "We need to favor the emergence of a French Islam that integrates into the values of the republic." He added that trying to ban the burka was not comparable because "it affects a woman's dignity." In comments to French media, Xavier Bertrand, general secretary of Sarkozy's political party, referred to the burka as a "prison."

- NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks gave up some of their early gains as investors, seeing a brighter employment picture as a sign of economic strength, worry about higher interest rates. Major stock indexes turned mixed Friday as news that employers cut fewer jobs in November has investors thinking the Federal Reserve could hike rates or remove other supports from the economy sooner than expected. Treasurys and gold fell as demand for safe-haven investments eased. The prospects of increased rates lifted the dollar. That, in turn, ate into an early surge in stocks and commodities including oil. The Labor Department said the economy shed 11,000 jobs last month, the smallest monthly loss since December 2007. That's much better than the 130,000 losses Wall Street economists expected and also an improvement from the 111,000 cuts in October. The unemployment rate fell to 10 percent from 10.2 percent in October, a 26-year high. Economists had expected the rate to remain unchanged. Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said orders to U.S. factories posted a surprise jump in October as demand jumped for aircraft and energy. Orders rose 0.6 percent in October, better than the flat reading that economists had expected. It was the sixth increase in seven months.

- OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada's economy added far more jobs than expected in November, more than erasing the losses in October and suggesting stronger fourth-quarter growth as predicted by the Bank of Canada. Statistics Canada reported on Friday a net employment gain of 79,000 in November, beating analysts' expectations of a 15,000 gain. The unemployment rate edged lower to 8.5 percent from 8.6 percent in October. "It's all good. Obviously the headline was a shocker. Some of it came in the part-time and it was a bit of a bounce from the previous month. But most of the details were supportive," said Mark Chandler, head of fixed-income and currency strategy at RBC Capital Markets. The Canadian dollar rose to C$1.0458 to the U.S. dollar after the report from around C$1.0530 just before the data was released. Analysts said the strong details in the report point to a pickup in economic growth in the fourth quarter after a tepid 0.4 percent annualized growth rate in the third quarter, the first rise after a recession lasting three quarters. Still, the Bank of Canada is likely to hold its benchmark interest rate at an all-time low of 0.25 percent at its next meeting on December 8. It is also expected to stick to its pledge to keep rates there until at least the end of June, conditional on inflation staying on track.
- MOSCOW – Russian news agencies say an explosion apparently caused by pyrotechnics tore through a nightclub in the city of Perm, killing 76 people. Emergency officials quoted by state-run news agency RIA-Novosti say the cause was pyrotechnics, but did not specify if the explosives were being used in a show at the club or if they were in storage. RIA Novosti and other agencies cited unnamed sources in the police and local branch of the emergency ministry as saying preliminary figures show 76 people died. There were about 200 people in the club at the time of the blast early Saturday, ITAR-Tass reported, citing a police source. Perm is about 700 miles (1,200 kilometers) east of Moscow.

- RAWALPINDI, Pakistan – A Taliban suicide squad targeted Pakistani military officers and their families praying at a mosque Friday close to army headquarters in a gruesome display of the militants' ability to strike at the center of power in this U.S.-allied, nuclear-armed nation. The barrage of bombs and bullets left 37 people dead, including seven senior officers and 17 children. The deaths of so many top brass inside a heavily fortified area a few miles from the capital was a major coup for the Pakistani insurgents, who are under pressure as the army pushes an offensive against their stronghold of South Waziristan along the Afghan border. Friday's carnage also dramatized the risks Pakistan faces if it steps up its support for the United States in the war against Islamic extremists on its side of the border with Afghanistan. President Barack Obama believes Pakistan is a key partner in that war, but critics contend that Pakistan, hedging its bets in the event the Taliban eventually regain power in Kabul, has held back against Afghan insurgents who use the lawless border region as a safe haven.

- DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Dubai World may unload some assets to raise cash, a senior government official said, reflecting a potential about face for the heavily-indebted conglomerate behind much of Dubai's boom. Dubai Finance Department Director-General Abdul Rahman al-Saleh did not say which pieces of the company are for sale. However, he emphasized that the assets in question would be Dubai World's alone -- underscoring the government's position that it is not responsible for debts racked up by a company it created and backed during the city-state's boom years. "Like any company that has commitments, part of getting liquidity is selling some assets. Of course local or foreign assets," he said in an interview aired by al-Jazeera Monday. A Dubai World spokeswoman declined to comment. The sale of any major Dubai World holdings would mark a stark change for the conglomerate, which repeatedly downplayed questions it would need to unload pieces of its global empire even as Dubai's financial concerns grew more acute over the past year. The company's roughly $60 billion in debt came from a multi-year building and buying spress fueled by access to cheap loans.