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.

All the major U.S. indices were up last week. The Dow's 2.8% gain on the week put it at record levels and within 30 points of the 13,000 mark. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 was up 2.2%, and the Nasdaq rose 1.4% on the week. I remarked here last weekend that earnings surprises would likely take the market higher, but even with that expectation, these were big gains.

Looking forward to next week, there may be more earnings surprises, but it probably will be harder for the indices to tack on more big gains, given last week's strong performance. I wouldn't be surprised to see prices flatten or even come down a little. Then again, according to Reuters, 70 of the 100 companies reporting last week beat consensus estimates, and S&P 500 companies are now forecast to see earnings increase by 5.3% vs. a year ago. That compares with the 4.5% figure with which we entered last week. ...