In my latest Market Thoughts video, I provide an update on the U.S. economy, along with recent global market performance. I also discuss the decline in spending growth that has likely resulted from lower consumer confidence levels.

As we move into the holiday shopping season, we find ourselves deluged by catalogs, sales, advertising, and—in my case—impassioned pleas by my seven-year-old son for toys. Spending really doesn’t seem to be a concern, at least in terms of not enough of it.

This post is a follow-up of sorts to one I wrote a couple of weeks ago, “U.S. Dollar Still Failing to Collapse.” As expected, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) decided to add (as of next October) the Chinese currency to the list of reserve currencies. Also as expected, the world is not ending just yet.

Despite the Thanksgiving holiday, there was quite a bit of data released last week. Let's take a closer look.

I have shared this story before, but I think it's particularly enlightening at this time of year.  

When was the last time a Russian fighter was shot down? I’m guessing in the 1950s or so. The fact that Turkey was willing to shoot down a Russian jet, under any circumstances, is a major game changer.

The other day, I wrote that, as the cycle turns, we need to examine things that we assume to be true and make sure they still are. I used China’s quest to make the yuan a reserve currency as an example of just that type of decision. It’s a decision you might make based on what you know to be so but end up regretting once it turns out you were wrong in the first place.

Data was mixed last week, with multiple signs of a slowdown. But, in many cases, this was due primarily to a pullback from strong recent performance, while the long-term trend remains positive. In addition, more forward-looking indicators were generally more positive than those that look back, suggesting the slowdown is passing.

As we approach normal in the U.S. economy, I thought it would be worth taking a look back at the very real risks we have skirted over the past several years. One of the major drivers in the “disaster chic” commentary cycle, which I have written about many times, is to take a real risk and extrapolate current trends into disaster. This plays into a very human tendency to do just that, as well as a pessimism born of recent experiences during the crisis.

The big economic news yesterday was the release of the October minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve, better known as the Fed. For the past several years, these meeting minutes have been largely devoid of drama, as interest rates have been widely expected to remain low. But speculation over whether Janet Yellen will or won’t raise interest rates has gotten pretty intense over the past several months.