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What We Are Following in the News

This may be interesting to watch in the US savings data: American teens are investing in stocks for their future home and retirement, sometimes encouraged by parents who wished they started investing earlier. https://buff.ly/jBMUHTh

US government shutdown stalls import purchase decisions. Importers have less insight to make investment decisions due to the gap in federal data, especially in planning Lunar New Year orders, Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka said. https://buff.ly/FvxaTTt

A clearer picture will emerge as numbers come out from the full Thanksgiving week and Cyber Monday period, but analysts say the famous one-day shopping event is forever changed. Long gone are the Black Friday’s with doorbuster deals and prolific long lines. https://buff.ly/MK4A0Kq

An investor called $140,000 the new poverty line. Experts disagreed but said he had a point. Michael Green’s tally of the costs of raising a family in the United States today is going viral, even if some economists scoff at his math. https://buff.ly/4IT8rjp

American consumers are miserable. But they keep spending. Consumer sentiment and retail sales have decoupled. https://buff.ly/GDEtpEV

Oil headed for the longest run of monthly losses in more than two years, as traders looked ahead to an OPEC+ meeting this weekend and gauged US-led efforts to end the conflict in Ukraine. Brent steadied above $63 a barrel on Friday. https://buff.ly/878i6MW