Looking at the Nikkei 225 a little later and it's almost fully recovered from the lousy open. Just like the day before. And just like Nov. 22. They have some kind of plunge protection team over there as well?

Something strange happened yesterday!

I went to John Mugarian's web site and found this story....
but when I went to the web site the story was no longer
on big picture!

I wanted to post the story but first I wanted John to confirm
it was actually ever posted....and he did.

Go here:

http://www.johnmugarian.com/

Don't believe the hype story:

http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2006/11/dont_believe_th.html

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Part of story:
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No, spending was not up 19%. A survey of shoppers DONE 11/23-11/25 found that people said they expected to spend 19% more. These were not actual spent dollars, but rather, were expctations of spending. There's an enormous difference, especailly when we consider that people tend to be very poor judges of their own behavior.

Note that this error is endemic to this group, and last year saw the same issue: for 2005, the NATIONAL RETAIL FEDERATION said holdiay Retail sales rose 22% (it didn't).

Its hard to imagine a 19% increase in spending would lead to triple digit loss for the Dow . . .
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On Monday the news media (including Bloomberg & WSJ) said that sales on the weeekend were up 19%.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a8krzZmaOZBM
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But....Walmart said same stores sales were down.
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Watsup wit dat?
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Why would the DOW go down with sales up 19%?
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Did insiders know the real info?
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The public is not being told the truth by main stream media?

Regarding Black Friday. There is nothing that I want badly enough to withstand such crowds. Within our own immediate gift giving family, we are electing for scaled down stocking stuffers. Anything we want we buy, and none of us needs anything. We are indeed fortunate in this circumstance. I've asked my family get me A. Bordaine's, Les Halles Cookbook ($30). It is a gift that will delight me. For my in-laws, though, we are sharing the cost of a washer (which is now crippled) and a dryer (which is nonexistent) to ease their lives. I'd prefer to get the steep markdowns on ALL mdse. not just the door busters.

Bill, it looks like the Nikkei gained back some of that lost ground overnight. We'll see if the U.S. market comes back. I just read Brett Steenbarger's post citing how the SPY has more often than not bounced back from a day like Monday. We'll have to see if this time, given the age of this bull market, that happens yet again.

I also recall clearly back in May when you advised watching Japan as it presaged the downturn in the U.S. markets. History repeats?