The S&P 500 passed the 2600 mark to top off the short holiday week after falling back for the last two weeks. The optimism seems to be spreading at the beginning of the holiday season as the initial indications suggest that Black Friday this year was better for retailers than last with positive data coming from both brick and mortar and online retailers. In global news, a change of power crisis was averted in Zimbabwe as President Mugabe stepped down from after calls for his resignation and a military takeover. In Egypt, a terrible and heinous attack on a mosque during Friday prayers killed at least 235 people with no one group yet claiming responsibility for this terrorist act.

Heading into December, large cap stocks are poised to post their best year since 2013 in a string of strong years since the Great Recession. Strong technology earnings have helped fuel the growth with value stocks lagging behind this year. International stocks also posted strong gains last week as the global economy is showing synchronized growth. The bond yield curve continues to flatten with short rates rising in anticipation of one more rate hike from the Fed this year. Commodities are now up for the year and oil is pushing to highs not seen since before the 2015 fall as OPEC and Russia agreed to extend production caps this week.