Weekend Reading

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 another upbeat week on the major markets, with the Dow and the S&P 500 gaining 1.1% and 1.2%, respectively, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.8%. Bears can't quite believe it, but we are ending the year on a remarkable upswing, with most investors seemingly believing in the Goldilocks hypothesis, where the Fed has engineered a benign slowdown and we are set for further growth. Click here for the weekly performance.

Next week is a busy one on the economic front, with Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher scheduled to give a talk Tuesday titled "A Year-End Wrapup of the Economy." On Thursday, his counterpart at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Jeffrey Lacker, will speak.

Turning to numbers, the National Association of Home Builders will release its December housing market index on Monday, and the same day will also see third-quarter U.S. current account deficit figures. On Tuesday we will see November PPI and housing starts. On Wednesday we will see weekly mortgage and refinancing numbers, followed Thursday by third-quarter GDP. Finally, on Friday, we will see the University of Michigan's December consumer sentiment index, plus November personal income and durable goods orders.

Turning to earnings, we will see quarterly reports next week from Circuit City (CC Quote) , FedEx(FDX Quote), Oracle(ORCL Quote) and Walgreen(WAG Quote).

Finally, here are some articles and papers worth reading:

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• With Indian and Chinese listings swamping the AIM, it feels more and more like an upscale Vancouver Stock Exchange. (Sunday Telegraph)
• New OECD report on climate change's impact on ski resorts is creating many long-term industry bears. (OECD)
• 2006 has been a good year for IPOs, and 2007 looks even better. (BusinessWeek)
• Lehman leads the list of institutional salespeople. (DailyII.com)
• Eli Lilly allegedly downplayed the risks of schizophrenia drug Zyprexin. (The New York Times)
• Buyout boom could be held back by capital availablility to buyout firms. (Reuters)
• Apple's iPhone could break the link between carriers and devices. (Fortune)
• Time magazine names "you" (user-generated content, blogs, etc.) its person of the year. (Time)
• Markets anticipate an orderly slowdown. (BIS)
• Barron's is bullish on ConocoPhillips, and Newfield (and the rest of the decade), and bearish on Heelys(HLYS Quote). (Barron's)

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