Not much for the bulls to be thankful for this past week as the broader market turned in its worst performance for Thanksgiving week since 1932. No question that the market is oversold, the question is when it bounces where does it find resistance. The 10/7/11 gap fill is extremely low hanging fruit for next week. What we do beyond that is anyone’s guess as nobody truly knows. Not the quants, fundies or technicians, nobody. At this point I’m not ruling out a test of the October lows.

Some decent catalyst next week as we wrap up November and head into the final month of trading for 2011 (wow, that seems unreal). Tuesday has consumer confidence numbers while Wednesday brings the end of the month along with ADP employment data. Thursday we get weekly claims along with ISM manufacturing PMI while Friday closes out the week with  non-farm payrolls. Add to those events the sure to be non-stop rumor mill from Europe and we achieve casino status, once again, for the markets. Enjoy the links and your weekend!

• Tuning out: How brains benefit from meditation [Yale]
• A computer system allows a machine to recognize a person’s emotional state [UCIII]
• Why we forget [Salon]
• Quiz: How is your memory holding up? [WebMD]
• It pays to be healthier [Springer]
• Ignorance is Bliss When it Comes to Challenging Social Issues [APA]
• Biased thinking at work is a dangerous thing [GulfNews]
• Awareness biases information processing [Radboud University]
• High-rez scan of Einstein’s brain [BoingBoing]
• Amping Up Brain Function: Transcranial Stimulation Shows Promise in Speeding Up Learning [Scientific American]
• Ingrained in the brain [Reasearch Live]
• The Psychological Science Behind an Oops Moment [APA]
• Does religion make your brain happy? [Science&Religion Today]
• The twin perils of emotion and logic [FundWeb]
• Keeping one’s eyes on the goal-despite stress [Ruhr University]