World Markets Confident U.S. Makes Fiscal Cliff Deal (Bloomberg)
Investors worldwide demonstrated confidence that the United States would find a way to avert an fiscal-cliff driven economic catastrophe by driving stocks to a three-week high. The MSCI All Country World Index (MXWD) reflected this attitude by posting another gain — this time rising 6%. In the Far East, both Japan’s Nikkei and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained .99%. In Europe, the FTSE 100 is ahead .83%, while Germany’s DAX posted a .72% jump. The optimism seems to have spread to the United States, with Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq future all slightly higher.
President Obama Takes First Step Towards an Agreement (YahooFinancial.com)
President Obama hinted that he wouldn’t insist upon raising taxes for upper income Americans to the Clinton-era levels set to take affect January 1, 2013. Investors took this update as an optimistic omen on a budget deal becoming reality, sending indexes higher: DJIA ended climbing .83% yesterday, S&P 500 closed up .79% and the Nasdaq jumped .81%. Today, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and the White House’s chief budget negotiator will visit with both House and Senate leaders to see if the Republican side of the aisle will respond accordingly and become more flexible on their demands for reducing entitlements.
Starbucks Newest Eye-Opener (Seattlepi.com)
In a bold move to see just how much consumers in the United States will spend to jumpstart their mornings, Starbucks (SBUX) is set to introduce a new ultra-premium coffee product: Costa Rica Finca Palmilera. Just how ultra-premium is it? Try $40 per half pound for the “Geisha” beans that produce this blend. If the ubiquitous coffee chain can make this brew a mainstay of American mornings at $7 a cup (for their “grande”), then Starbucks investors will could be laughing all the way to the bank.
