Cruise holidays are heavily discounted right now. But Andrew Snyder says that’s not a good sign for cruise liners like Royal Caribbean (NYSE:RCL). Demand for luxury holidays is in freefall, and advance bookings mean that cruise liners cannot cut operations in the short term. RCL shares may look cheap today, but Andrew says the company faces more misery this year.

The news for US retailers is grim to say the least. But Justice Litle says investors can still make profits by shorting the most vulnerable firms in the industry. He picks three retail stocks that look overvalued in today’s climate.

Early indicators suggest that there is still some life left in the American consumer. The hordes were back out for the Thanksgiving weekend, though mega discounts means retailers will still struggle to break even. Martin Denholm says investors should stick with bargain-oriented retailers like Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) and TJX Companies (NYSE:TJX).

It’s abundantly clear now that too much borrowing and spending in recent years is at the core of the current economic crisis. But what perplexes Bill Bonner is that government policy still assumes that more of the same is the only way to get us out of this mess. And Wall Street is only too happy to go along with it…