CYBER MONDAY!

Hello all,

My apologies for being MIA the last few days. School has really gotten the best of me. (Is gotten a word?) Anyway, the market should perform well today. (I'm writing this at 2 A.M.) The European markets are up today between 2 and 3.5%. This is great news for the American markets, and the pre market action is already showing optimism. The S&P is up 2.74%, the Nasdaq is up 2.35%, and the DOW is up 2.22% pre market. Use that extra bit of green you will most likely make tomorrow to buy some Cyber Monday Christmas presents for your loved ones!

I believe the European markets are being pushed higher because of a possible deal that would fiscally unite the 17 sovereign nations. This would spark (hopefully) greater ECB intervention in the form of bond purchases, which they hope would contain the crisis. It just goes to show you how bad this situation has really become for them to propose this now. Months ago this proposal would have been laughed at and dismissed in an instant, and now these 17 countries seem to be seriously considering this. To me, it shows that without the central bank most of Europe is doomed. And does the central bank really have enough firepower to save the Euro zone? All of the details on this plan are not out yet. It will be very interesting to see exactly what they are proposing.

Retail sales this Black Friday were 7% higher than last years Black Friday bonanza. This is obviously a sign of a stronger consumer. As mentioned, tomorrow is Cyber Monday. Let's see how these sales stack up to Black Friday retail sales and the sales of Cyber Monday last year. More on that to come.

Tomorrow during the day I hope to get around to compiling a list of stocks that I follow and analyzing whether or not they fit Graham and Buffett criteria as investments. I will then analyze them from a technical standpoint and apply my own personal set of standards to them. From this, I hope to compile a list of 5-10 stocks/ maybe ETFs that will be my personal "ezfinanceblog" virtual portfolio. I will then manage the portfolio and post all trades, profits, and losses on this blog.

I know I've been full of empty promises lately but I promise to change that soon.

Cheers,
EZ