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At 7:45 AM EST, the weekly ICSC-Goldman Store Sales report will be released, giving an update on the health of the consumer through this analysis of retail sales.

At 8:55 AM EST, the weekly Redbook report will be released, giving us more information about consumer spending.

At 9:00 AM EST, the monthly S&P/Case-Shiller home price index report will be released.  Given that most economists don’t expect the overall U.S. economy to improve until housing prices end their decline, the market will be watching this number closely.

At 9:45 AM EST, the Chicago PMI Index for November will be announced.  The consensus index value is 61, which is 0.4 points higher than last month, and is still well above the break-even level at 50.

At 10:00 AM EST, the monthly report on Consumer Confidence for November will be released.  The consensus index level is 52, which would be a 1.8 point increase from October’s number.

Also at 10:00 AM EST, the State Street Investor Confidence Index will be released, which looks at changes in the amount of equities held in the portfolios of institutional investors.

At 3:00 PM EDT, the Farm Prices report for October will be released, giving investors and economists an indication of the direction of food prices in the coming months.

At 8:00 PM EST, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Cleveland Federal Reserve President Sandra Pianalto will discuss the economy with global, regional and local business leaders.

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