Roundup: Scott Bessent’s oil plan / Pending home sales / Holiday budget

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3-3-3: Donald Trump’s Treasury Secretary pick, Scott Bessent, has a government deficit-reduction plan, neatly packaged as 3-3-3, which includes the U.S. producing an additional 3 million barrels of oil-equivalent a day. But industry experts are warning that the energy plan seems impossible to implement and makes little sense. Read more from The Wall Street Journal. 

Under contract: Pending home sales in the U.S. unexpectedly rose to a seven-month high in October as a brief drop in mortgage rates lured buyers. A National Association of Realtors gauge of contract signings increased 2% to 77.4 last month, well above all estimates of a Bloomberg survey, the median of which called for a 2% drop. Read more from Bloomberg. A subscription may be required. 

Gifts under the tree: Two new Gallup indicators predict that this year’s holiday season will be promising for retailers. Americans’ latest estimate of the total amount they will spend on Christmas and other holiday gifts is slightly higher than what they estimated at this time a year ago. The latest $1,012, from a Nov. 6-20 survey, is up from $975 last November. Read more from Gallup. 

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Editor’s note: Daily Report will not be published on Thursday, Nov. 28, or Friday, Nov. 29, in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. Daily Report will return on Monday, Dec. 2. Have a safe and happy holiday! 

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