Retail sales up in October

A bit of positive economic news in an otherwise gloomy environment is that retail sales were up modestly in October, a good start to Q4. But, that is so-called "coincident" data that tells us where we are right now (technically, it is "lagging", but just by a little), and doesn't tell us anything about where the economy will be headed in three to six months or more in the future. Typically, the stock market is trying to guess where things are headed nine months from now, although if a slump is expected in the interim, it all gets complicated, confused, and quite volatile. Still, good news is good to have.

-- Jack Krupansky