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Here’s what to expect in the week ahead:
OIL INDUSTRY
Crucial moment for an oil pipeline.
Nebraska’s Public Service Commission is scheduled to decide on Monday whether to grant a permit for the building of a section of the Keystone XL pipeline that would connect Canadian oil with refineries on the Gulf Coast. It is a crucial moment for a project that has been delayed for years and was stopped by the administration of President Barack Obama, only to be resuscitated by President Trump. A leak in the existing Keystone pipeline last week, which spilled 5,000 barrels of oil on a farm field, was an embarrassment for the Canadian pipeline company TransCanada, which owns both pipelines. Clifford Krauss
ECONOMY
Draghi to report on eurozone financial risks.
Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, will report to the European Parliament in Brussels on Monday about the risks facing the eurozone financial system. The topic is timely; some economists worry that financial minefields could come into view as the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve slowly withdraw the stimulus they have been providing for the past decade. Mr. Draghi is also chairman of the European Systemic Risk Board, which has expressed concern that a spike in interest rates could put stress on countries that have a lot of debt. Jack Ewing
A chance for Yellen to lay out her policy views.
The people who run the world’s largest central banks are a small and intimate group. They share similar challenges and meet regularly to trade notes. And on Tuesday evening, two members of that group will do it in public. Janet Yellen, now in her final months as chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, will be interviewed by Mervyn King, former governor of the Bank of England, at New York University. Ms. Yellen in recent speeches has sought to provide a clear record of her views on the major issues confronting the Fed in the realms of monetary and regulatory policy. She has only a few more opportunities to do so before her four-year term ends in early February. Binyamin Appelbaum
Consumers seem optimistic ahead of the holidays.
Millions of Americans will head to the mall at the end of this week for the Black Friday deals that mark the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season. For a sign of how freely American shoppers will be spending this holiday season, look to the University of Michigan’s monthly survey of consumer sentiment, which will be released on Wednesday. A preliminary reading showed that consumer confidence edged down in early November but remains strong. Other measures also suggest that consumers are feeling good about the economy, although there remains a large partisan divide. Ben Casselman
Fed minutes may offer details on inflation views.
The Federal Reserve’s most recent policymaking meeting, on the last day of October and the first day of November, was a bloodless affair. The Fed gave every indication before the meeting that it planned to wait until its final meeting of the year, in mid-December, to raise its benchmark interest rate for the third time this year. There were no surprises in the post-meeting statement, and there is little drama in the release on Wednesday of an account of the October-November meeting. It will most likely provide more details about the Fed’s ongoing struggle to understand the slow pace of inflation — but it probably won’t shake the conviction of investors that the Fed will raise rates in December. Binyamin Appelbaum
A Thanksgiving respite for trading.
Markets in the United States will be closed on Thursday as traders and other Americans observe Thanksgiving. The University of Illinois Extension estimates that people will eat a total of 46 million turkeys for the holiday, though official numbers on stuffing and mashed potato consumption are less readily available. And, according to AAA, more than 50 million people will travel at least 50 miles to their feast, paying lower airfares but higher gas prices than in recent years. Zach Wichter
RETAIL
Get ready for Black Friday lines outside stores.
Retailers, as they do every year, will trot out some of their deepest holiday discounts during the annual Black Friday shopping extravaganza. Lines outside stores will probably start forming early and stretch far, even as more companies stay closed or at least cut back their hours on Thanksgiving. Many brands have shifted their focus from doorbuster deals in their brick-and-mortar locations and are instead advertising online bargains, even as they also compete in a brutal retail market by refreshing their physical spaces. Analysts are expecting e-commerce sales to set fresh records, as they did earlier this month on Singles Day in China. Tiffany Hsu
