Great —the 3 of us! We can take turns selling each other Dow stocks at twice market value and then look at the weekend headlines: “Dow Tops 36,000!!!!”
http://www.wsj.com/articles/russian-finance-minister-upbeat-on-ruble-1419511839
Ruble Crisis Is Over, Russian Finance Minister Says
Currency Firms to Three-Week High in Thin Trade
By Andrey Ostroukh
Dec. 25, 2014 7:50 a.m. ET
MOSCOW—Russia’s finance minister declared the currency crisis over as the ruble firmed to a three-week high on Thursday.
After losing around 50% of its value against the dollar and hitting record lows last week, the ruble has been strengthening for the past five trading days as prices for oil, Russia’s key export, stabilized and month-end tax payments came due.
“We think that now this period has come to an end, the period of instability. We think that the ruble is still undervalued at the current price of oil,” said Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, according to Russian news agencies.
The ruble gained nearly 2% to 52.3 versus the U.S. dollar in thin trade Thursday, heading away from its weakest-ever level of 80.1 last week, as exporters converted their dollar holdings to rubles to meet local tax payments due by the end of the month.
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Shoppers’ Late Rush Gives Hope to Retailers
Early Estimates Show Best Holiday Sales Growth in Three Years
By Suzanne Kapner And Sara Germano
Updated Dec. 25, 2014 3:26 p.m. ET
American shoppers were on track to deliver a welcome Christmas gift to retailers: the best holiday sales growth in three years.
Sales gained momentum throughout December, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, as the countdown to Dec. 25 brought out more shoppers needing presents to put under the tree.
“Sales got very strong leading up to Christmas,” said Gerald Storch, a former CEO of Toys “R” Us Inc., who next month will take the helm of the company that owns Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor.
A series of encouraging economic indicators has raised optimism about the U.S. economy that may have helped boost confidence during the critical holiday shopping season.
Among them: The economy expanded at its fastest pace in 11 years in the third quarter, and job growth is the strongest since 1999. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan’s measure of consumer confidence rose in December to its highest level since January 2007.
Meanwhile, gas prices have fallen to their lowest levels in five years, which is saving U.S. consumers more than $450 million a day, according to auto club AAA.
“You can’t minimize the importance of falling gas prices and the increase in personal income,” said Jack Kleinhenz, the chief economist for the National Retail Federation, an industry trade group. The NRF is expecting a 4.1% increase in sales during November and December, the strongest rate since 2011, when sales rose 4.8%.
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