Weekend Reading: Pressure to Advance

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.

The major markets all advanced last week. The Dow and the S&P 500 gained 1.8% and 1.6%, respectively, while the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.4%. It was a good ending to a bad month. Click here for the weekly performance.

Solid Microsoft (MSFT Quote) results helped, as did a better-than-expected third-quarter GDP number, but the bottom line was that the market was aching to stop ending down all the time. After all, the S&P 500 remains off more than 2% in October, hardly a standout performance, although it happened in a month that is almost always one of the worst for the markets. ...