“Mr. Market likes to make fool as many people as possible at the worst time” — EGS

1. U.K. Financial Conduct Authority scrutinizing Gold Fix from five banks — Bloomberg, since 1919, five banks meet to set the price of gold. The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority is now scrutinizing how prices are set in the $20 trillion gold market as dealers and economists say knowledge gleaned on those calls could give some traders an unfair advantage when buying and selling the precious metal.
2. Black Friday ‘Discounts’ Dirty Secret — WSJ, Retailers and suppliers first work out the lowest price they can sell a product at and still make the profit they want, and then they jack up the “suggested retail price” so that the retailer can later offer a big discount.
3. Rise in Chinese bond yields sparks concern — Chinese government-bond yields have remained high after hitting a nine-year peak last week, when the rate on 10-year debt reached 4.72%. Today, the yield closed flat at 4.71%. The spike has come as the government tightens monetary policy in order to try to rein in soaring lending, and it has led to higher interest rates in the broader economy.
4. S&P cuts Netherlands rating; Cyprus and Spain seen more positive — Standard & Poor’s lowered its credit rating for the Netherlands to AA plus from AAA, while lifting its outlook for the struggling economies of Spain and Cyprus. S&P also positively revised its credit ratings outlook for Spain – to stable from negative – stating that the country’s external position was improving as growth gradually resumed.
5. Tensions rise over East China Sea islands — the heat over the islands dispute in the East China Sea has been turned up further, with China sending fighter jets and an early warning aircraft into an area that the country last week designated as an Air Defense Identification Zone. China’s action follows the U.S., Japan and South Korea sending military planes into the region without telling Beijing first, in defiance of the latter’s directives that they should provide notification and its threats of military action if they don’t, which it has now downplayed.

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com: