Crude oil bounced up today, surprising everyone with its strength. That buoyed U.S. and European equities.

In a not-wholly-unexpected development, Brent North Sea crude and West Texas Intermediate reached effective parity on world markets today.

November’s Chicago Federal Reserve National Activity Index that had been predicted to rise 0.10 from the downwardly revised earlier figure of -0.17 actually dropped to -0.30.