Business-Insider

by Ryan Teeples

As if the US economy needed more reason to lament, now we find that US holiday retail sales look like they may be the worst in seven years. (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...OVU&refer=home )

Plus, consumer spending (which is 70% of the US economy) and price growth are expected to cool, meaning a rate cut is all the more likely.

"Smaller price increases may ease concern over inflation, giving Federal Reserve policy makers more reason to lower the target interest rate again this month to prevent recession," Bob Wilis at Bloomberg wrote this morning.

This is on the heels of Bernanke speaking in Washington Thursday, where he said "The demand for housing seems to have weakened further, in part reflecting ongoing problems in mortgage markets.''

This reflects the fact that delinquency on subprime mortgages climbed to 16.3percent in Q3 last year, the highest in a decade.

Basically, inflation is becoming less and less of a concern, as things aren't getting better for the US economy or the USD, and it's likely that Bernanke and the Fed won't shock the markets but will go ahead with a half-point rate cut.

It might even come outside a regularly scheduled Fed announcement as an esteemed associate of mine, John Jagerson, pointed out in this article:
http://www.pfxglobal.com/index.php?o...846&Itemid=117
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