By James Langton

(December 11 – 07:40 ET) – A Florida Supreme Court decision favouring U.S. vice president Al Gore came out late Friday, throwing the U.S. election result back into uncertainty. By a 4-3 majority, the court order a hand re-count of 9,000 ballots from Miami-Dade County that machine counters rejected on Election Day be sent back to state court for counting. Unrecorded votes should also be counted in any other county where such a recount has not occurred, the court ruled.

Many traders have priced in a victory for Texas governor George W. Bush into the market, so immediately after the decision was released, Dow Jones futures dropped, and Nasdaq futures jumped, heralding a polarized open for Monday and renewed market anxiety.

Fear of a building energy crisis in the Northeast, and the emergence of a power crisis in California will also be grabbing some traders’ attention, this week. Petroleum inventory reports are due on Tuesday. Natural gas inventories will be reported on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Commerce Department will release the latest retail sales numbers. “We anticipate that retail sales will be flat in November, with the declining Nasdaq and lower consumer confidence suggesting some downside risk for this release,” says BMO Nesbitt Burns.

Thursday will bring Canada’s only major economic report — the Consumer Price Index. The consensus among analysts is for a 0.1% monthly rise, pushing the headline rate to 3.0% and the core rate to 1.6%. Although, TD suggests the core rate could rise to 2.0%. BMO Nesbitt Burns expects a core rate of 1.6%. This number should keep the Bank of Canada from cutting interest rates, even though the U.S. Federal Reserve Board may do so.

The U.S. Producer Price Index is due on Thursday, along with current account numbers.

On Friday, the U.S. CPI report will come out, along with industrial production and capacity utilization numbers. With traders now looking for a rate cut from the Fed, the CPI will be closely watched.

CIBC World Markets isn’t calling for a rate cut yet. “Given that inflationary hangover, Greenspan will be in no hurry to bring the punchbowl back again by cutting interest rates and setting equity markets off on a tear. He’s prepared to step in if slowdown turns into recession. But barring signs of an outright economic decline, the Fed will welcome the prospect of several quarters of slow growth that will open up needed slack in American labour markets.”

The earnings scene is sparse this week. Thursday’s report from Oracle is probably the most important one.

On Monday, company sponsored analyst meetings for GE, McDonald’s, Pfizer, and Emulex will occur. Tuesday will bring a report from Navisite, Best Buy, and Interstate Bakers. On Wednesday earnings reports from Verity, General Mills, and FuelCell Energy are due. The Oracle report comes on Thursday, as well as reports from Red Hat, Adobe Systems, Tektronix, Costco Wholesale, Gucci, and United Grain Growers. For Friday, MDS is slated to report, and Dundee Bancorp and Patheon may report.