Most major indices finished the week up by around 3%. But for the month of November, they are still down more than 3%. For your reference, November is supposed to be one of the best months of the year and certainly it is not the case this time. It is indeed a busy Friday. Dell’s disappointing earning results proved to be a non-event while Bernanke’s speech did provide some further supports to the market as he echoed the Fed vice chairman Kohn by saying that “We at the Fed will have to remain exceptionally alert and flexible…”. The futures market jumped right after his speech last night. Then we got two more related news. One is from the Treasury Secretary Paulson and basically he and several major financial institutions were trying to reach a plan that would temporarily freeze rates on certain subprime loans. Then we had news from the Fed governor Kroszner saying that “distressed borrowers need timely relief and that the solution should not be one-size-fits-all”. As a result, the financial sector and homebuilding sector are among the best performers of today’s session. US dollar got strengthened against major currencies while both oil and gold continued to slide. One currency – Canadian dollar – is particularly volatile recently as it jumped to historical high of 1.11 USD/CAD before retreating back to around par level. Despite some analysts calling the drop exaggerated, I would like to point out that the Canadian dollar is basically just oil and gold currency. With both oil and gold retreating by almost 10% from their peak, it is not surprising at all to us that the Canadian dollar is dropping. Move on to next week, we are going to get ISM and November Same-Store Sales reports. In addition, we are also going to get interest rate decisions from both BOE and ECB. Last but not least, OPEC is also set to meet next Wednesday.