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 an up week on the major markets, with all three major U.S. indices advancing. The Dow gained 1.3%, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 1.8%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite increased 1.7%.

Turning to economic indicators, the Institute for Supply Management plans to release its services index for January on Monday. The Labor Department has scheduled its preliminary estimate of fourth-quarter nonfarm productivity for Wednesday.

Also next week, the government will auction $38 billion of Treasury securities. And market participants are likely to keep a close watch on crude futures after colder temperatures last week caused the price of U.S. crude for March delivery to rise $1.72 to $59.02 a barrel.

Turning to earnings reports, the pace at last is beginning to slow. Some companies to watch for next week include Weyerhaeuser(WY Quote), Pepsico(PEP Quote), Disney(DIS Quote), Tribune(TRB Quote) and News Corp.(NWS Quote).

Finally, here are some articles and papers worth reading:

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• Comprehensive coverage of Super Bowl ads. (Advertising Age)
• The Percentage of S&P 500 companies missing consensus earnings estimates is the highest it's been since October 2005. (Ticker Sense)
• Excerpts from Michael Dell's email to employees. (Austin American-Statesman)
• Research: Cross-sectional implications of informed trading. (The Journal of Finance)
• Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke aces his first year. (New York Post)
• Jetrosexuals and the rise of youth luxury travel. (New York Post)
• Research: Large commodity traders didn't react to major events in the 1990s. (SSRN)
• Time turns in bullish piece on Yahoo!(YHOO Quote). (Time)
• Some Chinese investors don't think the market there can go down. (Time)
• China's equity investors are overfond of gambling. (Bloomberg)
• Mixed evidence on second comings of CEO/founders. (The New York Times)
• Europe's largest telecoms are plotting mobile Google(GOOG Quote) rival. (Telegraph)
• New risks for retailers in protecting reams of customer data. (Boston Globe)
• India's growth is remarkable, but signs of overheating are everywhere. (The Economist)
• Nervousness lurks in markets, just not in the usual places. (Economist.com)
• Distracted by legal problems, Hyundai's global growth has stalled. (Los Angeles Times)
• How the yen carry trade could unwind, with disastrous consequences. (Nouriel Roubini's blog)
• Transport's new high could be market's bull signal. (Reuters)
• Mysterious troubles in the trucking industry. (Slate)
• The 20 rising stars of fixed income. (Institutional Investor)
• World economics promises to pump up chip market in 2007. (EETimes)
• Books: The Emerging Markets Century is getting positive reviews. (Amazon.com)
• Verizon's massive gamble on fiber optics to the home. (Globe and Mail)
• The number of free online stock screeners is dwindling. (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Global water markets attracting investors and attention. (CFO)
• The Economist updates its Big Mac index. (The Economist)
• President Bush Monday will ask Congress for close to three-quarters of a trillion in defense dollars. (The Washington Post)
• Barron's picks mobile and Ceridian(CEN Quote), and pans Vista and PIPEs. (Barron's)
• Rising natural gas production costs have fewer reserves being added. (Oil & Gas Journal)

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