HEADLINE NEWS

Fannie Mae posts a 3Q loss of 18.9B and FNM says home prices to decline another 6% for 2009 on top of the 37% decline so far this year. But don't worry, on top of the 45B of taxpayer aid, FNM will ask Uncle Same for another 13B, and they are likely to get it.

U.S. Sees Productivity Gain
Productivity jumped 9.5% in the third quarter as employers kept firing workers to save money. Separately, jobless claims fell to the lowest level since Jan. 3.

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA
In the week ending Oct. 31, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 512,000, a decrease of 20,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 532,000. The 4-week moving average was 523,750, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's revised average of 526,750.

Retail Sales... "Low-End" Bias Dissipating
Same store retail sales were up 1.9% from the same period of 2008. Interestingly enough, the bifurcation between low-end (outperforming) and high-end (underperforming) is dissipating. Below we can see strength not only in "low-end" retailers like TJX (parent company of TJ Maxx and Marshalls), but in high-end retailers (i.e. Nordstrom) for the first time in a LONG time.