Weekend Reading: Jitters Die Hard

Good Sunday morning. Here are some articles and papers worth reading. First, however, a look back at the week that just finished, and a look forward at the week ahead.

The major markets were all modestly lower last week. The Dow lost 72 points, or 0.7% for the week, while the S&P 500 index dropped 7 points, or 0.5%, and the Nasdaq lost 22 points, or 1%.

It was the same old, same old, with mixed data leading to market uneasiness. While third-quarter company performance continues to come in generally at or ahead of expectations, economic reports are making investors jumpy, with inflation still higher than most would like.

Turning to the economic week ahead, it is another busy one. Consumer confidence data is due Tuesday, and that will likely be down, with hurricanes and higher oil prices weighing on people. We also have home sales data due Tuesday and Thursday, and there is increasingly the sense out there that the market has peaked, at least in major metropolitan areas, with the pace of sales slowing and the price sitting at their highest levels. Finally, Friday will see the advanced release of Q3 GDP figures, and the current view is that it will come in around 3.8%, up from 3.3% in the second quarter, a fairly remarkable performance given the headwinds in the economy.

Next week is busy with third-quarter earnings reports, and here are just a few of the companies scheduled to report: Merck (MRK Quote) (Monday), Microsoft (MSFT Quote) (Tuesday), and Bristol-Meyers (BMY Quote) (Friday).

Finally, here are some articles and papers worth reading:

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• Analysts awed at Google raise targets to $450 and call stock cheap (Bloomberg)
• Google Print's troubles could augur the beginning of an anti-search flashback (eWeek)
• Bill Gates and Warren Buffett on trade and the markets (Fortune)
• Rupert Murdoch's case of Internet fever: Who will it cause him to buy next? (Fortune)
• Tom Barrack, arguably the world's best real estate investor, is selling (Fortune)
• BusinessWeek does a cover article on James "Mad Money" Cramer (BusinessWeek)
• The ultimate contrarian play: Buying New Orleans real estate (Bloomberg/Lewis)
• Barron's picks Computer Associates, plus Verizon (Barron's)
• Untangling what Donald Trump is really worth (New York Times)
• Why Microsoft, Google and Yahoo! are fighting over AOL (Economist)
• Lessons from the swine flu not-so epidemic (New York Times)
• Broadcom is big winner in the new Apple video iPod (EETimes.com/iSuppli)
• Research: The role of analyst "booster shots" post-IPOs (SSRN)
• Research: Local equity analysts outperform remote ones (NBER)
• Books: Fascinating new book on the role of illicit trade in globalization (Amazon)

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