Weekend Reading: Cruising Higher

Good Sunday morning and welcome to Weekend Reading. As always, here are some articles and papers worth reading. First, however, a look back at the week that just finished, and a look forward to the week ahead.

It was a very nice week for the major markets. After being lackluster in recent weeks, the Dow and the S&P 500 gained 1.5% and 1.6%, respectively, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 3.2%.

Will we see more of the same next week? Well, the same factors underpinning last week's gains will still be in place: lower oil prices, reduced nervousness about Iran and increasing investor confidence that Fed policymakers will refrain from hiking rates at this Wednesday's meeting.

Turning to the economic week ahead, the big event is the Fed meeting. Earlier, on Tuesday, we will see the August producer price index, as well as August housing starts and building permits.

Turning to earnings, we have a fairly busy schedule for the coming week. Among the most closely watched releases will come from FedEx(FDX Quote), which reports Thursday. Even in this age of electronic communications, FedEx is viewed as a barometer of business activity because so many companies rely on its shipping and logistics services.

Also Thursday, we'll see earnings reports from ConAgra(CAG Quote), General Mills(GIS Quote) and Nike(NKE Quote).

Earlier, on Tuesday, software giant Oracle(ORCL Quote) reports.

Wednesday will bring Bed Bath & Beyond(BBBY Quote), Circuit City(CC Quote), Darden Restaurants(DRI Quote) and Morgan Stanley(BBBY Quote).

Finally, here are some articles and papers worth reading:

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• Frank Quattrone wants to raise a $5-billion tech private equity and advisor firm (Fortune)
• Ford is in worse shape than General Motors. (Fortune)
• Fortress may mark the beginning of trend towards hedge funds going public (which must mark a market top). (The New York Times)
• On the collapse of Kirk's Wright's $100-million Atlanta hedge fund. (Bloomberg Markets)
• Dell is spending heavily to appease customers and take back share from HP. (Bloomberg Markets)
• U.S. core inflation measures are rotten. (Bloomberg columnist Caroline Baum)
• Barron's picks Invitrogen, pans Omnivision. (Barron's)
• The U.S. Supreme Court finally set to release free transcripts same day. (The Washington Post)
• Crude oil markets have the rosiest current conditions seen in many months. (EIA)
• Tech IPOs have always been bad first-day bets -- but that doesn't make them bad investments. (Forbes)
• The market is splitting into alpha specialists and beta specialists. (The Economist)
• iPod teardown contains no surprise for PortalPlayer investors, but a small one for Broadcom investors. (EE Times)
• China, India, and developing countries are set to kick the developed worlds' economies in the ass. (The Economist)
• The link between home values and consumer spending may not be as strong as many think. (The New York Times)
• Net of health care, the U.S. economy has added no new jobs since 2000. (BusinessWeek)
• Books: The J Curve -- which posits that things get worse before they get better -- can be applied to economics and investing. (Amazon)
• Books: Data-rich new-ish book on index funds is definitely worth reading. (Amazon)
• Research: Fascinating new data on 150 years of market volatility in six countries. (BIS)
• Research: Active investing creates value, while closet indexing and factors bets don't. (SSRN)

1 What would best describe your stance heading into the coming week of trading? Bullish Bearish Neutral 2 Which of these sectors do you think is set to move up in the coming week? --Choose One--Aerospace and DefenseAirlinesAutomobilesBeverages and Food ProductsBiotechnologyCommercial BanksComputers and PeripheralsConsumer NondurablesEnergy Equipment & ServicesHMOs and HospitalsHomebuildingInsuranceIntegrated OilInternet, Software ServicesInvestment Bankers and BrokersMediaMultiline RetailPharmaceuticalsPrecious MetalsSemis, Semi EquipmentTelecom EquipmentTobacco and AlcoholWireless CommunicationsUtilities 3 Which of these sectors do you think is set to move down in the coming week? --Choose One--Aerospace and DefenseAirlinesAutomobilesBeverages and Food ProductsBiotechnologyCommercial BanksComputers and PeripheralsConsumer NondurablesEnergy Equipment & ServicesHMOs and HospitalsHomebuildingInsuranceIntegrated OilInternet, Software ServicesInvestment Bankers and BrokersMediaMultiline RetailPharmaceuticalsPrecious MetalsSemis, Semi EquipmentTelecom EquipmentTobacco and AlcoholWireless CommunicationsUtilities View the results without voting