Good Sunday morning. Here are some articles and papers worthreading. First, however, a look back at the week that just finished,and a look forward at the week ahead. Skepticism still abounds out there, despite the absence of majornatural catastrophes or anything else to take the market down. Themajor markets fell again last week, with the Dow and the S&P 500 losing 0.1% and 0.8%, respectively, and the Nasdaq Composite falling 1.2%. It wasunpleasant, but, on the positive side, it wasn't as bad as the priorweek. Click here for the weekly performance. We apparently remain in that maze of twisty little economicpassages. We are still hovering at levels visited back in late 2003,and the markets demonstrably aren't eager to go elsewhere. Inflationhas people worried, and while we will see a rush of earnings releasesthis week, we are also due for more economic commentary from Fedofficials, so inflation is not yet off the agenda. But that said,assuming third-quarter numbers are reported in line, it is hard not toimagine we are due for some sort of bounce on the numbers. Inflation,weather disasters, Iraq, oil and pretty much everything else you canimagine is priced into the market, so that must leave "up" as a highlyprobable short-term direction. Turning to the economic week ahead, Alan Greenspan is due to give aspeech Monday, so that will be unavoidable. The U.S. Labor Departmentwill release the September producer price index on Tuesday. OnWednesday the Commerce Department is scheduled to release theSeptember housing starts report, and then later in the week, onThursday, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia will release itsregional manufacturing survey. Next week is insanely busy with earnings reports, but here are justa couple of the companies scheduled to report: 3M ( MMM), Intel ( INTC), Caterpillar ( CAT),and Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ).
Finally, here are some articles and papers worth reading: Editor's note: To access some of these stories, registration or a subscription may be required. Please check the individual links for the site's policy.
- Avianinfluenza shows signs of evading Tamiflu (Reuters)
- Skiresort bookings are up markedly already this year (ArizonaRepublic)
- Stockresearch lawsuits are not paying off (CFO)
- Barron's picksSuncor, interviews a bullish Jim Paulsen, and pans GM (Barron's)
- TheU.S. dollar (and investment income) is at a tipping point(Bloomberg/Berry)
- NewU.S.-bound hurricane formed in Gulf of Mexico (NOAA)
- Adsin online games is a marketplace set to explode (Los Angeles Times)
- State-runGazprom's growth is turning Russia into an oil powerhouse (Los Angeles Times)
- AlanGreenspan's legacy: a crazy housing market, overextendedconsumers and a burst stock bubble (Forbes)
- WhyU.S. stockmarkets are languishing will others aren't (Economist)
- Retirementbenefits are about to become a crippling force for companies,especially in the U.S. (Economist)
- Pressurefrom Carl Icahn is just what Time Warner needs (Economist)
- Fascinatinginterview with Stanford economist Michael Boskin (San Francisco Chronicle)
- Southwest'sstumble proves it's fallible too (New York Times)
- TheU.S. is presenting China today with a plan to open its markets(New York Times)
- Gardeningcompanies worried that the market is set to wilt (Washington Post)
- TimeMagazine has a cover profile of Apple: Oh-oh (Time)
- HomebuilderToll Brothers gets a skeptical cover profile (New York Times Magazine)
- Theflattening yield curve has many people worried (CS Monitor)
- Research: WillChina eat the U.S.' lunch? (NBER)
- Books:
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