According to Bank of America Merrill Lynch's December survey, pessimism among investors is at its highest level in a decade, with November seeing the largest one-month rotation into bonds since 2001. At the same time, the Financial Times is reporting that no company has borrowed funds in the $1.2T U.S. high-yield corporate bond market this month. Should the trend continue, it would mark the first month since November 2008 that not a single high-yield bond priced in the market. 

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association mortgage application volume fell 5.8 percent last week and is 17 percent lower than a year ago. Purchase volume fell 7 percent for the week and is 2 percent higher year over year. Applications to refinance a home loan fell 2 percent for the week and 33 percent from last year. 

Costco reported a quarterly profit of $1.61 per share. Sales beat forecasts. Costco's same-store sales were 8.8 percent higher during the quarter.  (CNBC)

Will Santa come? December is off to a very rocky start, as after 10 trading days it was the worst start for the month of December for the S&P 500 since 1980. The good news is in 1980 the S&P 500 bounced more than 6% the remainder of the month. (LPL)

With Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management, a Registered Investment Advisor I am Troy Reinhart.