Looking Into The December Crystal Ball

The end of the month brings new thoughts going forward and a review of the November predictions. Outside of putting too much foresight into political actions and the markets terrible performance of the Thanksgiving week, I might have done okay. Though, I think I’ll quit attempting to decipher future political movement, unless it’s a prediction of inaction.

As much as I want to make this months predictions start with how many times A Christmas Story is televised. I don’t want to make this trivial. So, rolling into the final month of the year here’s what I foresee happening for December…

I foresee a Santa Claus rally, though a little late, will show up. The US markets will finally show a moment of clarity and briefly disconnect from the European mess going into the new year.

I foresee at least one European bank will fail, forcing nationalization and a “just how serious it is” realization for the Eurozone. I believe bank failures, sovereign debt defaults and/or countries leaving the Euro are the only events that will push the leaders to act.

I foresee the Green Bay Packers will get that one loss needed to prevent them from attaining perfection. They’re the only undefeated NFL team this year and the perfect season talk is starting to heat up. Time to nip this problem in the bud.

I foresee bank stocks will continue to drop. As long as there is trouble in Europe, bank stocks will feel the pain, even if they have no European debt exposure. On a side note, several bank stocks have begun to look interesting from a dividend perspective as prices come down. A potential long term investment opportunity.

I foresee gold will hit $2,000 oz. by year end. Considered a supposed flight to safety, gold will climb with the late Santa Claus rally and continued trouble in Europe. FYI, gold is not as safe as all the commercials claim it to be, invest at your own risk.

I foresee the Dow will end positive for the year. Not really a stretch here (the Dow opened Jan. 3 at 11,577.43) but with all the volatility and uncertainty this year, it would be a nice way to end it. For those S&P 500 followers, it opened Jan. 3 at 1,257.62.

I foresee there will be a happy Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Festivus for the rest of us.

Great November Reads:

Here’s just a small taste of the great articles I’ve been reading this past month:

Frugal Confessions – Most Portion Sizes are Ridiculous: Restaurants That Downsized Cost and Portion During Recession
You Have More Than You Think – Hard Work: The Anti-Dote To Joblessness
My Journey To Millions – No Research Reasons Why I Like Mature Dividend Paying Stocks
The Frugal Toad – What’s The Best Investment Advice? Invest In Yourself
My University Money – Where To Look For Your Next Job
Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance – Investing Rule 1: Know Thyself
20′s Finance – How My Gas Was Shut Off Because Of My Neighbor
Money Reasons – Why We Should Not Hate Businesses
Sustainable Personal Finance is celebrating their 1 year Anniversary with a Big Giveaway! Only a limited time left to get in (ends Dec. 19th). So head over, check out the site and subscribe.

Thanks For Sharing

Thanks to these sites that were kind enough to share our writing to their readers this past month: Net Worth Protect, One Cent At A Time, The Frugal Toad, Prairie EcoThrifter, Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance, and The Frugal Toad again.

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Neo says:

November 29, 2011 at 8:58 pm

Thanks for the shout out!

I hope you are right about stocks creeping up before year end, I would like to end the year on a positive note. Unfortunately, I think you are right about bank stocks, it is going to take a long time before Euro debt issues and the now re-occurring US political and debt issues are worked out. And that spells trouble for the banking systems and bank stocks.