Weekend Reading: Results or Economics

Good Sunday morning. Here are some articles and papers worth reading. First, however, a look back at the week that just finished, and a look forward at the week ahead.

Whoops, I was wrong. I expected the post-hurricane third-quarter results rally to continue a little longer, and it didn't. The major markets fell last week, with the Dow and the S&P 500 losing 2.6%, and the Nasdaq Composite off 2.9%. It was an unpleasant week on the markets. Click here for the weekly performance.

We are in a maze of twisty little economic passages, all alike. With the Dow back below the 10,300 mark, we are back to where it was in December 2003, and where it was in mid 2004. And again in the spring of 2005. We aren't going much of anywhere in the markets, and we haven't been for some time. The current culprit has been hawkish Federal Reserve statements about higher-than-expected inflation, and while I'm still optimistic that third-quarter results will cause at least a slight rally, there's no denying that the headwinds for the market have gotten even stronger. ...