Weekend Reading: Conflicting Barometers

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 mixed holiday-shortened week on the major markets, with the Dow losing 0.5%, the S&P 500 flat, and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.6%.

Next week is going to be full of conflicting market currents. On the one hand, we have a holiday shopping season that has seemingly started off fairly well. On other, we have an early warning from Wal-Mart(WMT Quote) that its own sales are down, and its Web site has been down, too. There are plenty of other sources of confusion out there, like a late-week dollar dive that caught many market participants by surprise and has investors worried that the market knows something that they don't about the U.S. economy in 2007.

Turning to the economic week ahead, it is perhaps the busiest week of the year for data. On Tuesday, we have October durable goods, October existing home sales, and the Conference Board's November consumer confidence index. On Wednesday, we have preliminary third-quarter GDP figures, plus the core PCE index of inflation, October new home sales and the Fed's Beige Book. On Thursday, we will see November numbers from the Chicago branch of the National Association of Purchasing Management. The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index for November will come out on Friday, as well as October data for construction spending. Finally, we will see see November domestic car and truck sales on Friday. Whew!

Turning to earnings, it is a quiet week, with the only company of note reporting being H&R Block(HRB Quote) on Thursday.

Finally, here are some articles and papers worth reading:

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• Web traffic growth at retail sites down on "Black Friday". (Reuters)
• Online shoppers set new traffic records on "Black Friday". (PriceGrabber.com)
• Heavy store traffic doesn't mean huge sales. (Reuters)
• AP analysis: Firms are crimping oil supplies. (AP)
• Media firms will struggle for growth in 2007. (Reuters)
• China's growth will slow "mildly" to 9.5% in 2007. (Bloomberg)
• Many homeowners duped by National Commercial Mortgage fraud. (The New York Times)
• Sanofi's wonder-drug Accompli is set to save the day -- maybe. (BusinessWeek)
• Microsoft's Allard gets puffy profile as the company's savior. (BusinessWeek)
• There is too much market liquidity, or too little, or something. (Bloomberg columnist Caroline Baum)
• Barron's pans Vertex, and picks Nike, Micron, and Hess as possible buyout targets. (Barron's)
• Golf carts are becoming a much bigger business outside of golf courses. (The Washington Post)
• How to profit from loaning stocks to short-sellers. (Forbes)
• Click-fraud worries continue to knaw away at people -- or maybe mostly at journalists. (The Economist)
• U.S. markets need regulatory reform to regain top spot. (The Economist)
• S&P 500 large-cap valuations are cheaper than small-caps. (The New York Times)
• Congressional changes are going to alter expensive earmarking practices. (The New York Times)
• Google's continued growth earns plaudits and critics. (San Jose Mercury News)
• Americans worry about the wrong things: They fear spinach but don't wear seatbelts. (Time)
• EIA now publishing oil days-of-supply data, and will add historical data soon. (EIA)
• I-bankers are earning big bonuses, and spending more than ever on fractional jets. (New York Post)

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