A.M. MARKET UPDATE 11.09.09: OIL, GOLD PRICES RISING

REUTERS: Oil rose more than $1 to above $78 a barrel on Monday . . . on fears a powerful hurricane would cut U.S. oil and gas supplies and also lifted by the falling dollar. Hurricane Ida roared on Sunday through the Gulf of Mexico, where important oilfields are located, after triggering floods and mudslides that killed 124 people in El Salvador . . . READ MORE

MARKETWATCH: The dollar gained slightly on the yen but retreated against the euro in Asian-hours trading Monday, as soaring gold futures pressured the greenback against its European counterpart . . . Gold futures climbed to new heights in electronic trading in Asia, with the most-active December contract tapping an intraday high of $1,105 an ounce . . . READ MORE

STOCKS: WILL RALLY CONTINUE?
CNN/MONEY: Stocks rallied last week, with the Dow reclaiming 10,000, as the major indexes erased most of the losses of the previous two weeks . . . After rallying 63% from its 12-year low hit in March, the S&P 500 shed nearly 6% in the last two weeks of October. Some feared the pullback would extend to 15%. Instead, buyers jumped back in . . . READ MORE

INVESTORS WAIT FOR RETAILERS
TO REPORT EARNINGS THIS WEEK
REUTERS: As unemployment in the United States edges above 10 percent, anxious investors will look to earnings reports from major retailers for signs of life in the beaten-up consumer . . . Wal-Mart should see earnings of 81 cents per share, compared with 77 cents a year earlier, when it reports results on Thursday, according to analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. Kohls also will give its quarterly scorecard on Thursday . . . Macy's is expected to see third-quarter losses widen on Wednesday and JC Penney's profit is likely to be down sharply when it reports results on Friday . . . READ MORE

NBC/UNIVERSAL PRICE $30 BILLION;
G.E., COMCAST NEGOTIATING DEAL
BLOOMBERG: Comcast Corp. and General Electric Co., in discussions over the sale of GE’s NBC Universal division, agreed to value the unit at about $30 billion, according to three people familiar with the matter. Vivendi SA, which owns 20 percent of NBC Universal, isn’t yet part of the agreement . . . READ MORE

COMMENTARY: NEWSWEEK
COULD U.S. DEFAULT ON THE NATIONAL DEBT?
ROBERT J. SAMUELSON: The unthinkable has become thinkable: some advanced society -- say, the United States, Spain, Italy, Japan, or Great Britain -- might someday default on its government debt. It wouldn't pay its creditors all they were owed or wouldn't pay them on time . . . The International Monetary Fund (IMF) issued a report that, without saying so, added credence to this unsettling hypothesis . . . The economic and financial crisis has dramatically increased the deficits and debt of most countries, and many wealthy countries are in worse shape than major developing nations . . . READ MORE