Weekend Reading

Good Sunday, 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.

The major U.S. indices fell again last. The Dow lost 1.4%, while the S&P 500 fell 1.1% and the Nasdaq Composite shed 0.6%. Worries about the subprime mortgage crisis seem to have been the largest catalyst for last week's declines. While the troubles in the subprime market aren't new, what is new is the amount of attention investors and the media are giving the sector. It was nearly impossible last week to turn on a television or visit a Web site without being regaled with tales about the subprime meltdown, and about how it was likely to spread. That sort of thing makes investors, well, nervous.

Looking forward to next week, the jitters probably will continue, but it's hard not to wonder if there won't be some more bottom-fishing in subprime stocks. While it's true that things are crummy, nonperforming loans are being cut off, some of the weakest companies have already dropped into insolvency and there is an opportunity now for some consolidation. Mind you, just because things in subprime are not as bad as some think doesn't mean that investors won't have other things to fret about in the coming week, like a Fed meeting and oodles of housing data.

Turning to economic indicators, February housing starts are scheduled for Tuesday morning and are expected to show a slight rebound. Later in the week, on Friday, the National Association of Realtors plans to report existing home sales. The median forecast, according to Reuters, is for a slight drop.

Turning to earnings, Adobe(ADBE Quote) and Oracle(ORCL Quote) plan to report Tuesday. Then on Wednesday, Morgan Stanley(MS Quote) and FedEx(FDX Quote) are scheduled to report. General Mills(GIS Quote) is on the schedule for Thursday.

Finally, here are some articles and papers worth reading:

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• A Blackstone IPO filing may come within two weeks. (New York Post)
• Some on Wall Street say subprime selling is overdone. (The Washington Post)
• New York is in a mini real estate boom -- and no one knows why. (New York Observer)
• Barron's picks Textron(TXT Quote), Saks(SKS Quote) and Ryder(R Quote) but says subprime woes are not over. (Barron's)
• Hundreds of thousands of families are losing their homes. (The New York Times)
• Cannes conference shows how commercial real estate is heating up. (Telegraph)
• The largest-cap stocks are currently less expensive than small-cap stocks. (The New York Times)
• Student loan companies are coming under scrutiny for school incentive payments. (The New York Times)
• There's speculation about an Atmel(ATML Quote) buyout. (EE Times)
• Cisco(CSCO Quote) and Microsoft(MSFT Quote) are gearing up for increased competition. (Reuters)
• Being on the Forbes 400 wealth list is inversely correlated with quality of life. (The New York Times)
• The January to mid-March gas price increase is the largest in recent years. (Energy Information Administration)
• Research: Adaptive traders and the design of financial markets. (Journal of Finance)
• Expensive end-of-life cancer therapies under increasing scrutiny. (Los Angeles Times)
• Is Moody's stupid or greedy? (Bloomberg)
• Intellectual property securitization is riding a wave -- again. (IDD)
• Why aren't more investors worried about the U.S. current account deficit? (The Economist)
• The financial system as Ponzi-style confidence trick. (The Economist)
• Ed Chancellor wonders if the market is having a Minsky moment. (The Washington Post)
• Southwest Airlines(LUV Quote) has a chief apology officer. (The New York Times)
• Buy commodity companies, not commodities. (The New York Times)
• Research: Growth rate of GDI does a better job of predicting recessions than does GDP. (Federal Reserve Board)
• Research: Expectations of government market interventions pay off like actual interventions. (NBER)

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