the crumble of the euro. today, europe s central bank president disappointed markets, saying the bank won t consider large bond purchases. hammering out italy s crucial austerity budget enters its final phase this week, battling union opposition. back here at home, according to comscore, consumers spent 15% more in online holiday buying than last year. the average regular gas is $3.24 a gallon. that s down 24 cents over the past six weeks. in deal news, canada s el dorado gold agreed to buy european gold fields for about $2.4 billion. housing data dominates the week. december homebuilder sentiment is out today. november housing starts come tuesday, followed by wednesday s previously owned home sales. new home sales are out friday. watch zynga this week. its highly anticipated ipo stumbled friday, losing 5% in its debut. finally pay attention. you re going to want to avoid
taking a look at overseas trading this morning. in tokyo the nikkei dropped 111 points, but in long congress the hang seng was up a fraction. with one eye on europe in light cautious trade, wall street opened with moderate gains. the latest euro anxiety is italy, government bond yields spiked to thighest level since 1997. prime minister silvio berlusconi is refusing to resign. back here at home, pfizer rose as defensive stocks like health care head gainers. data showed cautious consumers borrowed more for cars and tuition in september but charged less on credit cards for a third straight month. late mortgage payments unexpectedly rose last quarter for the first time since 2009. in deal news, best buy fell on its plan to buy english partner
the economy is expected to show growth as an anemic 1.3%. updates on the housing market this week will include sales of new homes in july and prices on those homes. the latest on consumer sentiment for august is also ahead along with earnings from retail heavy hitters williams-sonoma, american eagle and upscale jeweler tiffany s. rumors verizon ended their 15-day strike and will be headed back to work this evening as contract negotiations continue. in deal news, skype is buying group messaging start-up groupme, while dollar thrifty set an october deadline for final offers from rival sumter es. and according to an online report, a lot of buzz. an at&t exec. warned employees they ll be really, really busy. spurring speck wlags the new iphone 5 will be out in early
markets were higher on news of the euro deal. unexpected bang upearnings from morgan stanley sent shares spiking 11%. union pacific jumped almost 5% on higher profits. alexion spiked, but intel dropped. also due to soft pc sales, after the bell microsoft fell. in deal news, express scripts is buying med co-health, combining the nation s largest pharmacy benefit managers. six years earlier than expected, the government has sold its entire investment in chrysler to italy s fiat, now the majority shareholder. and finally, prince william and wife kathrcat catherine fle
hashed out a new massive bailout for greece with banks and other private contributors. they radically reformed the rescue fund to help countries before a crisis flares. oil surged above $100 a barrel. the euro rose against the dollar, and u.s. government bonds fell. also overnight, asian markets were higher on news of the euro deal. unexpected bang upearnings from morgan stanley sent shares spiking 11%. union pacific jumped almost 5% on higher profits. alexion spiked, but intel dropped. also due to soft pc sales, after the bell microsoft fell. in deal news, express scripts is buying med co-health, combining the nation s largest pharmacy benefit managers. six years earlier than