US retail sales rose 0.2% in November, the Census Bureau reports. The increase is a touch higher than the previous month’s 0.1% gain. But the uptick in the monthly data masks the ongoing deceleration in the year-over-year trend. Spending eased to a weak 1.4% annual pace, a seven-month low that’s close to the softest gain since the recession ended in mid-2009. The bad news: it’s no longer about the falling dollar value of gasoline sales due to a bear market in energy.
Continue reading →

Buffett’s Asset Allocation Advice: Take it … With a Twist
Javier Estrada
October 26, 2015
One of the most important decisions retirees need to make is the asset allocation of their portfolios. They can have a static or a dynamic allocation, and simplicity usually favors the former. Warren Buffett recently added another vote for static allocations by revealing that he had advised a trustee to split the bequest his wife will receive 90% in stocks and 10% in short-term bonds. The evidence discussed here shows that, relative to other static allocations, a 90/10 split has a very low failure rate and provides investors with very good upside potential and downside protection. The evidence also shows that two minor twists to the 90/10 split result in two very simple dynamic strategies with even better upside potential and downside protection.
Continue reading →

● US jobless claims rise to five-month high | Reuters
● US Consumer Comfort Index ticks higher after weeks of sliding | Bloomberg
● US import prices decline for 5th straight month in Nov | WSJ
● UN: World economic growth dips to 2.4% in 2015, slowest since 2008 | WaPo
● IEA expects oil glut to run through late-2016 | Bloomberg
● Bank of England keeps rates at record low | RTT