The Market On Monday

At 7:39 a.m. futures are slightly down. At this point the market seems poised to move sideways, but you never know.

Dubai insolvency and its weight on market activity has been lessened as the U.A.E. is saying it will back the affected institutions.

Black Friday sales were slightly up and investors like seeing that.

Allow me to point out the obvious. The notion is firmly in place that consumerism, retail sales, and energy usage in theory must continue to increase all the time. This is what the markets want to see. How can that possibly continue. Its not a sustainable theory.

CNN: Stocks ready for post-holiday drop

...the average shopper spent $343.31 over the holiday weekend, down from $372.57 last year. Overall sales rose to $41.2 billion from $41 billion, with the number of shoppers climbing to 195 million from 172 million over the four-day span.

"Right now, things are looking much better on a year-over-year basis."

Reuters: Oil ticks up above $76, eyes on Dubai

But confirmation from Abu Dhabi that it would extend some help to Dubai, as well as moves by the United Arab Emirates to offer emergency assistance to banks in Dubai, helped calm some market concerns.