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. Skepticism still abounds out there, despite the absence of major natural catastrophes or anything else to take the market down. The major 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 was unpleasant, but, on the positive side, it wasn't as bad as the prior week. Click here for the weekly performance . We apparently remain in that maze of twisty little economic passages. We are still hovering at levels visited back in late 2003, and the markets demonstrably aren't eager to go elsewhere. Inflation has people worried, and while we will see a rush of earnings releases this week, we are also due for more economic commentary from Fed officials, so inflation is not yet off the agenda. But that said, assuming third-quarter numbers are reported in line, it is hard not to imagine we are due for some sort of bounce on the numbers. Inflation, weather disasters, Iraq, oil and pretty much everything else you can imagine is priced into the market, so that must leave "up" as a highly probable short-term direction. Turning to the economic week ahead, Alan Greenspan is due to give a speech Monday, so that will be unavoidable. The U.S. Labor Department will release the September producer price index on Tuesday. On Wednesday the Commerce Department is scheduled to release the September housing starts report, and then later in the week, on Thursday, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia will release its regional manufacturing survey. Next week is insanely busy with earnings reports, but here are just a 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.
- Avian influenza shows signs of evading Tamiflu (Reuters)
- Ski resort bookings are up markedly already this year (Arizona Republic)
- Stock research lawsuits are not paying off (CFO)
- Barron's picks Suncor, interviews a bullish Jim Paulsen, and pans GM (Barron's)
- The U.S. dollar (and investment income) is at a tipping point (Bloomberg/Berry)
- New U.S.-bound hurricane formed in Gulf of Mexico (NOAA)
- Ads in online games is a marketplace set to explode (Los Angeles Times)
- State-run Gazprom's growth is turning Russia into an oil powerhouse (Los Angeles Times)
- Alan Greenspan's legacy: a crazy housing market, overextended consumers and a burst stock bubble (Forbes)
- Why U.S. stockmarkets are languishing will others aren't (Economist)
- Retirement benefits are about to become a crippling force for companies, especially in the U.S. (Economist)
- Pressure from Carl Icahn is just what Time Warner needs (Economist)
- Fascinating interview with Stanford economist Michael Boskin (San Francisco Chronicle)
- Southwest's stumble proves it's fallible too (New York Times)
- The U.S. is presenting China today with a plan to open its markets (New York Times)
- Gardening companies worried that the market is set to wilt (Washington Post)
- Time Magazine has a cover profile of Apple: Oh-oh (Time)
- Homebuilder Toll Brothers gets a skeptical cover profile (New York Times Magazine)
- The flattening yield curve has many people worried (CS Monitor)
- Research: Will China eat the U.S.' lunch? (NBER)
- Books: Anti-P&G (and anti RFID) book has leaped into Amazon's top ten (Amazon/Adage)
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