The Market On Friday

(addendum - At the close the DOW was up today. I was wrong, I expected a small drop. Its a good way to be wrong though....)

World stocks are falling today. What's going to happen on Wall Street.

Mildly educated guess here is that not much will happen - anticipating a probable loss. However, with the price of oil now in decline compared to a few short weeks ago, most of the basic things that we buy and use will be priced lower for a period of time. This would be gas and food. We are not quite as vulnerable to inflation in this next economic quarter.

On the other hand the recession is taking a toll on employment and our assets, including housing prices. So, people are less interested in spending and more interested in preserving what remains. Even though inflation will be in check in the foreseeable future and using terms that I have disdain for - consumer spending which is the driving force in the economy is down.

Reuters: World shares head for worst month ever

Shares in Asia and Europe fell on Friday, heading for their worst month ever, while the low-yielding yen surged as Japan's interest rate cut failed to erase concerns about the deteriorating global economic outlook.

Reuters: Who shrank the economy? Food prices dent U.S. growth

Inflation ate deeply into U.S. consumer spending in the third quarter, doing more harm to the economy than either slumping car sales or housing, but recent commodity price falls may support growth going forward.

But the subsequent decline in prices for food and gas could support growth in the fourth quarter, provided households can shrug off worry over job security and restore their spending.