Weekend Reading: Oil and Brokerages

Good morning and welcome to another edition of Weekend Reading on this final day of the U.S. Open. First, a look back at the week that just finished, then a look forward to the week ahead, and finally, a summary of articles and papers worth reading.

Last week was a wild one for the markets. We had the Dow and Nasdaq going in different directions in two out of five days, and lots of market misadventure -- Apple(AAPL Quote - Cramer on AAPL - Stock Picks), Lehman(LEH Quote - Cramer on LEH - Stock Picks), oil -- along the way. The Dow ended the week up 0.8%, while the S&P 500 was flat and the Nasdaq was down 0.8%.

Looking forward to next week, it's all about oil and banks. A spate of U.S. investment banks is reporting results, and all eyes will be on the group, especially on Lehman and Goldman Sachs(GS Quote - Cramer on GS - Stock Picks), albeit for different reasons. The latter will be looked at for signs of weakness, and the former will be examined to see if things are worse than already low expectations. At the same time, oil will remain front and center, with most observers convinced that the commodity is the main influence on stocks.

Turning to economic news, the big number comes Tuesday, in the form of the May producer price index. There is a general sense that the Fed is inflation-fixated, to the point that the fed futures market now calculates a 65% likelihood of a rate hike at the next meeting, despite current economic weakness.

As for earnings, we'll have a bevy of companies reporting from the aforementioned brokerage sector. We'll also see results from Adobe(ADBE Quote - Cramer on ADBE - Stock Picks) and FedEx(FDX Quote - Cramer on FDX - Stock Picks).

Finally, here are some articles and papers worth reading:

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• Barron's pans Mexican oil and Shire(SHPGY Quote - Cramer on SHPGY - Stock Picks), and has a neutral midyear roundtable. (Barron's)
• Inside T. Boone Pickens' Brain. (Forbes)
• Money-market funds: A boom amid the bust. (Economist)
• The cost of finding the next barrel of oil has tripled over eight years. (Globe and Mail)
• Trade and the Presidential Election of 2008. (The New York Times)
• Low likelihood of hurricane-induced Gulf oil season like 2005. (Energy Information Administration)
• Some are worried about a crude oil price collapse. (New York Post)
• Microsoft(MSFT Quote - Cramer on MSFT - Stock Picks) seeks support against Google(GOOG Quote - Cramer on GOOG - Stock Picks)-Yahoo!(YHOO Quote - Cramer on YHOO - Stock Picks) deal. (Reuters)
• Hedge investors hunt for next blockbuster strategy. (Reuters)
• Two Bubbles, Two Approaches for the Fed. (The New York Times)
• Viewed with suspicion, short-sellers play important role (FT)
• Market has irrational expectations for the Fed. (Bloomberg)
• First installment of a major series on the housing bubble. (The Washington Post)
• Stars test the waters with hydrogen cars. (Los Angeles Times)
• Midwest floods could raise state's gas prices. (San Francisco Chronicle)
• The Real Cost of Living Index: 9.5%. (Telegraph)
• A league table of liveable cities. (FT)
• Fascinating look at the costs in some of the world's riskiest oil exporation projects. (Global and Mail)
• Claymore launches first frontier market ETF. (IndexUniverse)
• Assets Indexed To S&P 500 Near $1.5 Trillion. (Standard & Poor's)
• Meet Mukesh Ambani: India's Richest Man. (The New York Times)
• In Europe, a Slide Toward Irrelevance. (The Washington Post)
• TIPS breakeven inflation rates are a useful proxy for inflation expectations. (FRB)
• Fascinating brief history of the 1987 market crash. (FRB)
• Hedge funds are less prone to collapsing under market shocks than many think. (FRB)
• Water as the next oil. (BusinessWeek)

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