BUT MY NUMBERS....:

Outlook is bullish on holiday buying: Economists say spending could grow 6 percent, despite consumer challenges like big energy bills. (Ron Scherer | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor)

Economists project that holiday spending will grow a healthy 5 or 6 percent, down slightly from last year, when it grew by 6.7 percent. In fact, with energy prices falling faster than expected, some economists are now revising upward their growth forecasts for the end of 2005. And the annual shopping blitz should be strong enough to provide the economy with momentum into next year. [....]

Some of the spending defies economic theory, says Jay McIntosh, director of retail and consumer products at a Chicago branch of the accounting firm Ernst & Young. Yes, Americans will be paying more to stay warm. But, he says, "It's become part of American life to spend heavily on the holidays. It's really more emotional than rational."

Stupid Americans, don't they know how crappy the economy is?

MORE:
Rally Solidifies as Dow Closes at 8-Month High: Stocks keep powering ahead amid economic optimism. The S&P hits a fresh 41/2-year high. (Tom Petruno, November 24, 2005, LA Times)

The blue-chip Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 4.38 points, or 0.4%, to 1,265.61, its highest close since June 2001.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 44.66 points, or 0.4%, to 10,916.09, an eight-month high. The Dow reached a four-year high before pulling back in the final hour of trading.

The day's advance left the S&P — a staple of many investors' portfolios via mutual funds that track the index — up 4.4% year to date, and up 6.2% including dividend income. Just six weeks ago the index was in the red for the year.

The market's turnaround this month, after struggling for most of the year, has been spurred in part by declines in oil prices and by hopes that the Federal Reserve might be nearing the end of its credit-tightening campaign, analysts say.

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 23, 2005 5:20 PM