feedaug04






		Tuesday August 31 Chicago Purchasers' August Index Falls to 57.3 From 64.7 Bloomberg Confidence reading falls in August Conference Board Wall Street turns bearish on Intel, chip stocks Reuters Chain Store Sales Lower in Final Aug Week Reuters Bonds Suggest Only Modest Gains in Jobs LA Times (Free Reg) The Treasury bond market on Monday sent a signal that it expected job gains to remain muted at best: $ Extends Slide FT Baffled by bond strength CBSM The bond market today reminds me eerily of the late 1990s in the stock market. All the experienced investors said the market was overvalued. But it kept on going up....It was downright embarrassing. Get ready for the fall season CBSM (Kellner) Commentary: September brings market gloom Which Way the Volumes GoldenBar The Rise in Job Displacement, 1991-2004: The Crisis in American Manufacturing CEPR PDF Cash-rich companies steer clear of risk FT “The over-investment boom of the late 1990s is coming back home to roost” Purnomo Says Demand, Not Speculators, Driving Oil Market BL Oil Falls As Hedge Funds Run To Exits Reuters Oil Prices Unlikely to Alter Fed Rate Decisions Bloomberg (Berry) Repeated pipeline sabotage costs "fortune" in oil riches WP/AP Mr. Sandman, Bring Me Some Oil NY Times (R) Market Manipulation, or Information Manipulation? OP Hedge funds change bond investors’ world FT States try to keep jobs in the USA USAT CEO Pay Soars at Companies That Send Jobs Overseas FairEconomy Fund Managers Now More Prone to Risk CFO Housing economists see record 2004 CBSM Housing economists raise yellow flag over San Diego SOn San Diego SF Gate A rush of Realtors SOSD Fallout feared as new agents enter the business just as the housing market shows signs of cooling Foreclosure Rates Reaching Crisis Levels Action News Bill would limit home foreclosures AP Insurers cut home payouts SF (NYT) Philadelphia sheriff will cut fee for handling mortgage foreclosures WNEP NW regional bank eyes turf of Fannie, Freddie AP If approved, the plan would put the Seattle bank in competition with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Lessons from Google's IPO Wharton Going public getting harder SF Gate The press and adulation of Google leading up to its IPO shows that investors can still go gaga over a new stock just like they did during the dot-com bubble. SEC to recommend civil charges against Hollinger Inc. Globe & Mail SEC to Congress: Defer to FASB on Options Reuters OSC alleges insider trading on Agricore deal FP Bacanovic banned R Angel soft flushing tour is Penn Station Attraction NYP (Crudele) Finally, your fund’s secret votes revealed MSN Newmont adds muscle to Gabriel gold find Re Gold Stocks: Short Positions Fractional Reserve Banking Prevents Gold Standard Halifax Live China's stockpile of oil helps to bolster prices Times Online The signs of aggressive Chinese stockpiling emerge from research by Merrill Lynch, the investment bank, which suggests that China is importing crude and refined products at twice the rate of growth in actual demand. China: Environment or Development? Morgan Stanley (Xie) Chinese mutual funds report strong growth Reuters China's markets watchdog suspends IPOs AFP Japan's Factory Production Stalled in July as Electronics Demand Faltered Bl Thailand Looks Like China as Bad Loans Pile Up Bloomberg EU set to change rules on budget deficit limit IHT Singapore bankruptcies hit record high despite economic rebound AFP WTO ruling on wheat sales goes against U.S. Seattle T (BL) Tax Ministry: Blacklist of banks is myth Russian Journal Sons Of Gwalia In Administration On Hedging Debt Dow Jones Sons of Gwalia's gold counterparties - nine banks and financial institutions - refused to accept a standstill agreement on the hedging debt. Converium serves up more bad news SwissI Alitalia shares slump AFP Coup Charges Cap Mark Thatcher's Career AP The story features oil interests, a dictator reported to harbor cannibalistic tendencies, mercenaries from elite private schools in Britain, a Lebanese immigrant tycoon and faint echoes of Britain's former dominance as a colonial power. Hackers hijack federal computers USAT Berlin bear's break-out bid fails BBC Monday Augsut 30 Wonder Bread Baker Stock Drops 25 Percent Reuter IBC Press Release Understate Housing Costs, Understate Inflation Bloom (Baum) July Personal Spending Rises 0.8%; Incomes Rise 0.1% Bloomberg BEA Attacks Halt Oil Exports From South Iraq AP Crude Rises BL Unconvincing dollar rally Business Line There Is No Such Thing As Free Money Hussman Experts: Bear market persists AP Sideways pattern likely to go for years some say Are we living in a fool's paradise The Australian Global: Hardly a Global Soft Patch Morgam Stanley (Roach) U.S. economy's 'soft patch' may be just the start of a hard road G&M (Ingram) Greenspan's recession deserves to be the Democrats' headache Brookesnews U.S. airlines face looming financial turbulence Globe & mail Washington put on pensions alert FT Pensions on a Precipice Business Week If airlines start to ditch plans, shortfalls could swamp system A Lumber prices at all-time high Grand Falls Concrete prices threaten projects Californian Some oil speculators are starting to bail out NYT Where have the jobs gone? ACBJ American Jobs are Going Abroad Safe Haven Google, Shmoogle. The Biggest I.P.O.'s Went Unnoticed NYT Experience suggests that "halo" is a euphemism for "investors turning bullish en masse for no substantive reason." Krispy Kreme's Failings Tough To Glaze Over WP Calpine Accounts Questioned Reuters Tyson Foods Cuts 2004 Profit Outlook Reuters They came, they saw, they pillaged Asia Japan Times Citigroup is hardly the first giant fund holder to push the ethical envelope... Experts Assess the Influence of Long-Term Capital's Loss NYT Blank-Slate Company NYP (Byron) Could U.S. Regulators Clamp Down On U.S. Settlements Of Berlin Trades? IBD SEC Lets Up on the Accelerator CFO How many mutual funds will die? Reuters Wilshire Funds Management Lowers Expense Ratios PRLeap Hollinger directors to come under fire G&M Never mind gold's price, look at volume CBSM Fed's Easy Money Trickling Down CFO FED Moody's noted that 2004-to-date's relaxation of lending standards for C&I loans is "the most pronounced on record" since the survey began in Q2 1990. Bush fighting stock market trend Journal News Credit squeeze risks triggering loans crisis TheStandard A wave of new non-performing loans could soon hit China's biggest banks as the government's credit squeeze triggers defaults by everyone from steel mill owners and car buyers to golf course developers and homeowners. Poverty Is a Growing Risk to Asian Markets Bloomberg Fasten your seatbelts and prepare for the property market to land Guardian China's Rising Demand for Coal, Steel Eases Slowdown Concerns Bloomberg Australia's Portman Says Iron Ore Demand At Record Levels Dow Jones India cuts taxes to slow inflation, takes budget hit Financial Review Canada slaps duties on Chinese-made barbecues Globe & Mail Weekend Edition (Aug 28-29) Wall St Week Ahead: Investors take a holiday Reuters The Week Ahead: Myths and Realities About US Jobs Statistics CIBC PDF Bubble at the Fringe PBear (Noland) The Rewards of Lazy Investing Mauldin US Dollar Bear Intact Zeal Did They "Backpedal" ... If No One Was There to Hear It? Elliott WaveW Why High Valuations Are Not Permanent Comstock New US accounting rule could hit financial profits Reuters U.S. banks and insurance companies with big holdings of mortgage-backed securities are fretting over a new accounting rule that could take a bite out of earnings as soon as the third quarter. NYSE Seat Prices Hit 8-Year Low Reuters Yahoo Pares Google Stake AP Google options lure heavy volume CBSM Jaguar to cut production by 15,000 cars FT Friday August 27 Consumer sentiment tops forecasts Reuters Greenspan Warns on Baby Boomer Benefits Reuters Speech U.S. Economy Grew at a 2.8% Annual Rate in Second Quarter Bloomberg BEA Time For The Downtrend To Accelerate? Cross Currents Fear and loathing in the globalized world Taipei Times (Shiller) Global: The Great American Savings Grab Morgan Stanley (Roach) Faith in the Stock Market North Disciples, Followers, and Cheerleaders North Pop goes the bubble? CNN Housing's heyday may be over, with consequences spreading far and wide Goldman, UBS Scaled Back Size of Market Bets in Second Quarter Bloomberg The Future’s A Gas Economist Oil strategists divided after price fall FT Why worry about high oil prices, when a boom in natural gas may be on the way? Tracking Jobless Claims Data Northern Trust PDF The business expansion that began in March 1991 is often cited as a jobless recovery that gathered steam only in the latter stages of the cycle. The labor markets performance in the current expansion ranks below the 1990-91 cycle Census: Poverty rose by million USAT EPI ~ Pension Tension Berner Day of Reckoning Ahead for California, New Jersey Bloomberg Weak GM, Ford Sales Spur Production Cuts? Reuters Incentives in August rose about 4 percent from July's levels, but automakers are having a tougher time convincing consumers to buy... Irrational Market Bubbles: Are They "Post-Modern"? Elliott Wave U.S. regulator faults Big Four accounting firms - but gently NYT (Norris) PCAB Big four accounting firms made several major errors last year The SEC and the Desire For Continued Relations Tech Central How Mutual Fund Managers Exploit Opportunities to Maximize Fees Wharton JB Oxford execs face charges in illegal late trades USAT Calif. pharmacies sue drugmakers AP Novellus' Customers Growing More Cautious TheStreet AMR Sees Fuel Costs Burning Away Profit TheStreet RJR debt outlook lowered Globe & Mail DPL Sues Former CFO, Other Execs CFO Republican fundraisers on Wall St shy away from Bush FT Study: Politicians Increasingly Use Property Grabs to Pad Bottom Line NTU Program Trading Averaged 53.2% of NYSE Volume during Aug.16-20 NYSE A giant hedge fund Economist Germany's biggest bank will soon be not much of a bank, unless it changes course Japan's Household Spending Falls; Unemployment Rises Bloomberg Debt-servicing costs poised to creep back above 20 trillion yen JTimes MOF Brazil's Central Bank Signals It May Raise Rates Bloomberg Mortgage data spell end of house price boom Times Online The number of new home loans has suffered its largest fall for a decade in the strongest sign yet that Britain’s property boom is coming to an end Canadian REITs face slim pickings in the buying game Financial Post Police investigate phantom military company Times Online Boardroom pay bonanza goes on Guardian Thursday August 26 US Seen Headed for Smallest Farm Surplus Since '72 Reuters Jobless claims rise on storm damage CBSM Crude resumes price pullback CBSM GDP May Spoil Party For GOP NYP (Crudele) Why The Bear Market is Not Over PBear PPT Dropping the torch CNN/Money Businesses were supposed to pick up the economic burden from consumers; they're not doing so hot Stocks Are Hurting More Than the Averages Show Bloomberg Losing the HP Way CFO (Economist) Two years after Carly Fiorina pulled off a transforming merger, Hewlett-Packard looks huge, frail and confused Denver Area: Job growth stunted Rocky MN Leaving Las Vegas? CNN Gaining steam: Railroads reap profits, headaches from rising shipments CBSM Concrete prices rising in US BGazette Building Materials in Short Supply NBC2 Holcim May Say 2nd-Quarter Profit Rose 22% on Demand for Cement Bloomberg Hummer production being cut UPI Chemicals sector faces more layoffs CBSM 35,000 jobs seen at risk if price of natural gas stays high Health Care Crowds IPO Sick List TheStreet Gores Investment withdraws $250 mln IPO Reuters Ahold begs investors’ patience FT Krispy Kreme quarterly earnings plunge Reuters Late call on 'vice mail' scam CBSM Commentary: Why did SEC wait so long to sound alarm? Citigroup sued by Bank of New York over Enron-WSJ Reuters The lawsuit could result in $2.5 billion of liability for Citigroup Spitzer keeps pressure on fund companies NYT Ex-Broker Fighting Merrill Over Cash NYP Former Enron executive will pay $1.49 million Reuters Brokers settle with SEC over research payments Reuters US launches probe into Career Education FT SEC Bans Former HealthSouth Exec From Practicing Accounting AccountingW Citigroup Trades Show Market Flaw, Not Foul Play Bloomberg “Mommy, mommy! A big boy in the playground pushed the merry- go-round too fast and we all felt dizzy and sick and now we're going to cry.” Nasdaq Short Interest of Interest Schaeffers Another '90s Bad Dream LA Times (Free Reg) Beanie Baby mania paralleled the dot-com craze: sky-high prices and then a bursting of the bubble. Ex-devotees cringe at the memory Interview: John Embry, Sprott Asset Management MineWeb Angel's of Deception, Part 2 Gold-Eagle Worries persist of China hard landing CBSM IMF IMF board urges flexible yuan, staff wants rate hike Mondale: to revalue Renminbi "a very grave mistake" People’s Daily Who's Right About China -- Greenspan or Zhou? Bloomberg Japanese Exports Fell for a Second Month in July Bloomberg Concern mounts that slowing growth in the U.S. and China will hold back a recovery in the world's second-largest economy Thai bank receives a warning Bloomberg Central Bank to Buy More Euros Next Year Moscow Times German Business Confidence Falls on Oil Cost Concern Bloomberg Russian partner of BP in fraud row Times Online China becomes world's biggest soybean importer People’s Daily Germany may raise curtain on exec pay AP Olympics-And the Winner Is ... World Metal Prices Reuters Wednesday August 25 Not Free, Not Fair: Manipulation of the Gold Price Emry PDF Ingram: In search of a golden fleece Globe & Mail Canada report lends support to gold "conspiracy" Reuters July New Home Sales Fell 6.4% to 1.134 Mill Annual Rate Bloomberg Census July Durables Orders Rise 1.7%; Ex-Transport. Rises 0.1% Bloomberg Census Mortgage Applications Off in Aug. 20 Week Reuters Timing Affects Long-term Returns Comstock Bear market postponed? Hulbert Oil Isn't Only Constraint on the Economy TheStreet America’s false profits Economist American firms are not as healthy as you might suppose Charley and the Corporate Spin Factory TheStreet Federal Reserve Credibility on the Line AEI America, The Debt Ridden NCPA Book: Running on Empty Expectations, Allocations, and the Stock Market Trends Elliott Wave A Primer on Government Economic Reporting Gillespie Corporate Pension Crisis Still Looming AP 40 companies sitting on pension time bombs MSN Oil surge “delaying airline recovery” FT H&R Block Posts $44.1 Million Loss in 1Q AP AMD desktop chips edge ahead of Intel CNet NASD Chasing Wall St. Deadbeats NYP Pentagon auditors grow testy HChron EU says deepens probe of Microsoft/Time Warner Reuters Mr. Soros goes at Washington CS Monitor Mark Belnick: A Cautionary Tale Law.com Beer in Aluminum Bottles on the Way AP Silver slips as exposure to photography declines Telegraph A risk-management upgrade for US bank regulators McKinsey (Free Reg) The FDIC -- the federal agency charged with promoting public confidence in the US banking system -- is not yet fully confident of its ability to manage risk. U.S. telecom pain is world's gain IHT “While the U.S. is still smarting from the telecoms catastrophe, it has woken to find that it has significantly assisted everyone else, which was really sort of dumb” Germany reiterates pledge as budget deficit rises IHT China is seen poised for rare step of rescuing a private firm NYT Industrial profit growth starts to slow China Daily Europe's Defensive Stocks Are No Longer Defensive Bloomberg India: The Price is Wrong Tech Station Thailand Raises Key Interest Rate to Curb Inflation Bloomberg FSA exposes long-running deception by Shell executives Times Online Shell was warned on reserves in 2000 FT A Bank Takeover in Japan Breaks Tradition NYT Tuesday August 24 Greenspan: More data needed to declare a housing bubble CBSM July Existing Home Sales Slowed After Rates Rose Bloomberg Realtor How Long Will Foreign Central Banks Keep Financing Our Treasury Deficit? NT U.S. debt gets sour reception in Japan Bloomberg Since The Fed Raised Interest Rates -- They’ve Gone Down NYP (Crudele) Lehman advises investing caution for 2-3 weeks Reuters Stock investors grapple with tough economic realities NYT (Morgenson) Mathematician: Markets more dangerous than investors know DRecord Book Why Herb's not hot on the market CBSM Losing pace? Boston Globe All About Money Baltimore Chronicle The Federal Reserve and Productivity’s Boom-Bust Cycle Englund Crude, Clownies and Crashes Rostenko Credit Crisis CS Monitor AA View of US Financials Willie In a generational shift, Americans have come to accept big credit card balances as inevitable Foreclosures.com: Las Vegas Home Price Bubble Set to Deflate BW “When things slow down the speculators will leave the scene and there will be a shakeout” NASD Puts Out 'Guidance' Over Berlin Listings IBD Rumors have been rampant for weeks that the SEC and NASD are at odds over the NASD's proposals for stronger regulations to squelch illegal market manipulation, proposals that apparently have fallen on deaf ears at the SEC SEC orders balance-sheet study FT Companies have been restructuring financial transactions to circumvent the new rules (FIN 46). Gold Advisers Too Bullish CBSM (Hulbert) The Economy Is Killing Overtime Forbes Study: Incentives Hurting Value of Autos AP Intel takes axe to Pentium 4 prices TheRegister R El Paso anticipates writedowns of $3.7 billion AP Another Exec Flees BEAS TheStreet Google at Bottom of ISS Governance Ranking AP Adelphia says Rigas family owes it $3.23 bln Reuters US Airways moves closer to second default FT Cisco awards 162 million options to employees Reuters Toy Company Applause CEO Commits Suicide AP A tech-bubble blowout becomes high drama IHT (NYT) Mirin's play is an exploration of the market mania that overtook many people during the Internet bubble The Cheap Seats NYP Seat owners at New York's stock exchanges -- already besieged by scandal and competition -- are seeing their cash flow slow to all-time lows as sluggish business has renters running for the hills. Crude contract slips below $46 CBSM OPEC insists speculation to blame for high oil prices AP Japan examines impact of oil speculation FT O Oil's slippery slope Asia Times Costly oil evokes memories of '97 crisis Asia Times Bernanke downplays rising prices R Can Bank win a game of Reverse Monopoly? Independent Interest Rates Will Have to Rise--Bank of Canada Globe & Mail The dynamite dossier Times Online If true, the dossier reveals a massive scandal Chinese Internet Stocks Focus of Crackdown AP China dazzled by platinum jewellery FT India: The curious investigation into Manic Monday Indian Express Traders say that even those who triggered the selling hysteria hadn’t bargained for such an irrational fall... South Africa: The deficit from hell MoneyWeb Philippines: Shares fall 2.16% on 'fiscal crisis' worries Inq7 Philippines Able to Service Its Debt AP Why Stock Market Crashed to Unprecedented Low allAfrica Wal-Mart warning dents Wall Street rally AP Monday August 23 Global: The Funding of America Morgan Stanley (Roach) Dollar Rises as Crude Oil Falls, Easing Concern on U.S. Growth Bloomberg ”Buy and hold” means “buy and lose” MSN (Fleck) A Normal Market? There's No Such Thing Wall Street Journal “Over 20 years, it's not unusual to have real stock returns that aren't much above zero. I'd be willing to bet that the 2000-2019 era could be just such a period." Equity markets will remain volatile, so invest with caution Personal Finance That Not-So-Distant Thunder in the Bond Market NYT Some fund managers preferring liquidity CC (NYT) Oil Holds at $47 as Iraq Resumes Exports Reuters Past oil shocks' legacy: recession NYT (Morgenson) A Review of Oil CornerStone Speculators blamed for high price of oil Guardian Oil is mesmerizing the markets CBSM (Brimelow) Can the economy take it? CFO High oil price risks bringing down US airlines AFP The consumption fallacy: another lesson for the US economy BrookesNews The Big Picture Schultz The Strong Economy Hook! Faber McHugh Home prices hit new highs Sac Bee What's Driving the Auto Boom? Business Week The housing run-up is grabbing headlines, but the pace of car sales has been growing even more rapidly, maybe even bubbling over FTC looks into debt-aid firm Seattle PI Survey: Economists dial back growth forecasts USAT Why Bush is on the carpet with Hoover Guardian Foreign Buying Is Rising In U.S. Corporate Bonds Wall Street Journal More self-employed bet on not getting sick, hurt USAT Wal-Mart Cuts Forecast for August Sales, Expects Them to Be Little Changed B Google is Probably Worth About $24 a Share Hussman Group: Google governance flawed Reuters Google Shares May Flood Market -Barron's Reuters Norris "Common sense tells you that it doesn't bode well for price stability." Google: Mary Meeker's comeback? Reuters Climbing Back Up Newsweek SEC Questions Auditor Turnover CFO Investor's Edge for the Week of 8/23/2004 Schaeffers Soaring oil price forces cut in market (FTSE 100) forecasts Times Online Japan: High oil prices seen threatening recovery Yomiuri China's economy grows 9.69 pct in 1st half, revised GDP figure show P’s D Boom in house prices is 'well and truly over' Independent Indexes in Japan fall short of hype Bloomberg Monetary policy and the debt problem BrookesNews High yield doesn't make stock a sure bet Toronto Star Volkswagen Says 'No Room' for Wage Hikes AP Santander may cut 4,500 jobs as part of £8bn Abbey National takeover Guardian Can Anything Save French Wine? CNN Weekend Edition (Aug 21-22) Oil and Stagflation AEI (Makin) PDF Why Investors Fail Mauldin Speculative Finance and Liquidity Bulges PBear (Noland) Gold/Oil Ratio Extremes Zeal This is a normal correction of a Huge Primary Advance Russell Gold: The End of Cheap Money Ing Prediction: The future of the USA stock market Sornette The Plug Factor Richebacher Overproduction When Productive Capacity is Declining? Elliott Wave Are tech stocks poised for yet another sell-off? IBD US's Snow-dollar to remain top reserve currency Reuters Jobs: Many states losing ground JobWatch Retailers: Falling off the pace Globe & Mail Dell Founder Sells Shares NY Times Fannie Mae subpoenaed by its regulator OFHEO-WSJ Reuters U.S. Begins Criminal Probe on Riggs-Paper Reuters MCI charge report pushes rating down USAT NYT: U.S. Probes Medical Supply Industry Reuters Kmart Sale to Home Depot Could Cost Jobs Reuters 'Dutch auction' finds few takers in the Netherlands NYT SEC Proxy Access Plan Stalled Reuters The Nature of Money and our Monetary System Financial Sense EU monetary official says oil price is a worry Reuters/Bloom Lasting share revival is reliant on dividend growth Times Online Foreign capital infiltrates into China’s financial market People’s Daily Scandal-wracked Mitsubishi Motors struggling to survive Japan Times Nation awash in hot-spring scandals Asahi Some local officials blame the bubble economy Iran stock exchange is cleaning up its act NYT Oil falls back below $48 CNN Will next energy crisis center on natural gas? NYT Morgan Stanley's top oil strategist misses the mark NYN Service Friday August 20 Lehman Cuts Forecasts for U.S. Growth, Interest Rates Bloomberg GM Denies Problem with 2005 Dealer Orders Reuters Mylan Criticizes Wall Street Analysts Reuters NY gold, silver soar to 4-mo high on oil's gains Reuters $50 Barrel for Oil 'A Foregone Conclusion' AP Oil Tops $49 AP Nearing $50 Global: Oil-Shock Assessment Morgan Stanley (Roach) It’s Not Only Oil Comstock Two Key Charts... Russell Trade gap darkens U.S. picture NYT (Norris) California home prices up 25 pct in 2nd-qtr Reuters Lumber price goes through the roof FP Google's Big Splash Aided by Bid-Fill Strategy TheStreet “In setting the offering price below its clearing price, Google ended up not with an auction of shares but with "about as traditional an IPO as you can get," Google's Auction Loosens Wall Street's Grip on High-Priced IPOs Bloomberg 1,000 Google Millionaires Gather For Summer Picnic Today Comtex Delay in IPO Trades Not Uncommon AP Citi's bond, derivatives trades under scanner Reuters Nortel wants $10m bonuses back FT United says termination of pension funds likely AFP GM Dealers Cutting Orders? Reuters SEC sounds alarm on "breezy, intimate" stock touts Reuters Here's What Nobody Will Want to Discuss... Elliott Wave Short Interest Increases in August ~ Program Trading at 50% NYSE New oil highs spark gold rush Guardian The world's largest pile of gold still shines BBC Asia Pacific: No More Next Bubble? Morgan Stanley (Xie) Contracted foreign investment tops $1 trillion in China People’s Daily CSFB Gets Regulatory OK To Trade Derivatives In China Dow Jones NZ Watch: Generators, Govt Scramble To Plug Supply Gap Dow Jones Oil-thirsty China wants Yukos arm Times Online China Mobile suspends chinadotcom mobile services Reuters Senators Ask Where $8.8 Bln in Iraq Funds Went Reuters Iraq Chief Gives 'Final Warning' to Rebel Cleric NYT Fighting Rages CNN Allawi pledges not to attack Najaf shrine FT As Oil Prices Boil . . . Washington Post Oil speculators put even the masters of Opec in their place Times Online Soaring oil fuels fears of a corporate aviation disaster Independent Qantas raises fuel surcharge, blames rising oil prices AFP Airfares more expensive FAZ Inflating the oil crisis Spiked Thursday August 19 Crude treks to new heights, nears $49 CBSM Google Shares Surge Nearly 18 Percent AP GOOG Nasdaq says Google has not opened for trading Reuters “There were two trades, they should not have gone. The stock was not open for trading" Breaking The Buck And Passing It, Too Forbes Philly Fed index for the month fell to 28.5, from July's reading of 36.1 PFed U.S. Leading Index Falls for the Second Consecutive Month Conference Board Crude Rockets to All-Time High of $47.50 AP Initial Jobless Claims Fell 3,000 to 331,000 Last Week Bloomberg Google should grow up Globe & Mail (Ingram) Freddie Mac Announces Receipt of 'Wells Notice' From SEC Staff PRN Economic Presentation: Anatomy of a Slowdown CIBC PDF (Fixed) US Economy May Be Living on Borrowed Time E-Commerce Times Is the "Greater Foolishness" Era Ending? Elliott Wave (Free Reg) Debating the Comparative P/E Fallacy TheStreet Schaeffer on Charts: Rescuing the Dow Schaeffers The Pension Catastrophe North Worker compensation lagging behind productivity gains EPI More find homes out of reach Union Tribune Blame Fed for Stocks' Slide TheStreet If all had gone according to plan, the debt would have fueled growth, causing incomes and personal assets to grow to such an extent that debt levels wouldn't rise proportionately. But that hasn't happened Citigroup faces probe over bonds FT Financial firms outsourcing at high speed NYT Politics of outsourcing ATimes Delta CEO: More job cuts part of restructuring plan AP Nortel to Cut 3,500 Jobs to Boost Profit Reuters HP'S Fiorina May Catch Heat From GAO’s Spotlight NYP Exec Pay May Cause Hollinger To Restate NYP Parmalat seeks $10bn damages Times Online Gov’t Claims ATM Operators Fix Fees NYP Janus Firm Settles Fraud Charges CFO Investor Indicted In Securities Fraud Case AP Funds Ordered to End Broker Incentives CFO Portfolio managers are also required to reveal investments in funds they supervis SYSCO Sees Waning Appetites Fool World Gold Council says Q2 consumer demand for gold rose AFX Gold Gold - the Instinctive Protection of Wealth Kitco The Mogambo Guru Daughty Silver on Sale Casey An empirical comparison of credit spreads between the bond market and the credit default swap market BIS Economic Effects of Making the 2001 and 2003 Tax Cuts Permanent Brookings Economics 101 CATO Oil crisis to cut Asia's 2004 GDP growth by 1 pct point: UN AFP China investment spending jumps BBC China: Insurers allowed to use forex for overseas investment People’s Daily Amazon to buy China Internet retailer-sources Reuters Reasons to cheer death of Cult of the Equity Scotsman Housing hits the ceiling Australian UK mortgage lending breaks record BBC A Secretive Bank Faces Calls for Transparency NY Times Critics call the bank a phantom power, the most secretive public institution lending money around the world, and say that its lack of transparency has made it possible for conflicts of interest to remain unchecked. Debt market & stock direction (Yield Curve) Sify Oil Charges to New High Above $47 a Barrel AP Oil's new high may persist CS Monitor High Oil Prices -- Here To Stay? Northern Trust PDF Wednesday August 18 Crude Oil Inventories Drop Schaeffers Google Cuts IPO Price to $85 to $95; Amount Offered Reduced BL Stock-Index Futures Decline After Google Lowers Price for Share Sale BL Market Cheap or Expensive ll Comstock The Bear's Lair: Anatomy of the tech wreck UPI Pouring oil on the flames Economist How would financial markets react if the oil price stays stubbornly high? Forget the Curve. Is Fed Behind Its Forecast? Baum No Change In September 21 Prediction Northern Trust PDF The Fed’s Dangerous Experiment May Be Drawing To A Close Auerback 'Bull's-eye investors' still lose CBSM New study says 82% of day-traders end up in red Alice in Economyland? Elliott Wave Commentary: Signposts point to economic slowdown CBSM (Kellner) Refinancings soar 21% as rates slump Reuters Where the foreclosures are CNN Despite the housing boom, owners in some markets are suffering In New York, the price of an average apartment now tops 1 million Boston Globe Cash balances up as economic worries rise FT Merrill said the only other times the survey had shown cash balances at such levels was after the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks, the October 2002 credit crunch and in the lead-up to the war in Iraq last year. Mutual Funds Opt to Liquidate NY Times Some of the nation's more than 8,000 mutual funds are shutting their doors, as their managers confront a lackluster stock market, greater regulatory scrutiny and higher costs. Fund Crackdown NYP ING to withdraw $5 billion from Janus funds Reuters Resuscitate strategies to cope with dead Dow USAT Heavily Shorted Stocks: Buys or Blow Ups? Schaeffers Are we sick of Google yet? CBSM Google interview shows the SEC has no clothes HCRhon Google IPO May Suffer From Internet Stocks' Drop Bloomberg SEC delays Google IPO sale approval FT U.S. withholds some Halliburton payments for Iraq services NYT ATA fears it will miss loan payment FT BoA reportedly plans massive layoff Reuters Comcast Boosted By Buffett Nod NY Post FASB To Discuss Options Costs Today FT Flight to commodities as banks scent rich pickings FT Producer gold de-hedging gathers pace in Q2 BL GFMS Japan hopes opening bond sales to foreigners will solve woes Japan Times 'Why would you buy JGBs?': trader Confidence drops in Germany Bloomberg Credit tightening pumps up property prices China Daily China takes measures to curb price rise People’s Daily General Motors Starts Offering Car Loans in China Bloomberg Glaxo suffers side effects in China Guardian Taiwan reviewing low-priced share rules IHT Oil Prices Set Record, Near $47 a Barrel Reuters 1.3 billion reasons to worry about oil Newsday Heating-oil prices to stay hot for winter CS Monitor “The price of oil has hit an intraday record level every day except one since July 30” NYP Tuesday August 17 July Industrial Production Rises 0.4%; Plant-Use at 77.1% BloombergÂ FED Consumer Price Index Falls 0.1%; Core Index Rises 0.1% BloombergÂ BLS U.S. July housing starts up 8.3% CBSM Census Wall Street Is Trying to Sink Google Smart Money I'm not prone to conspiracy theories, but the struggle [to bid on Google] has left me convinced that Wall Street wants to torpedo Google's unorthodox effort to bypass the entrenched underwriting business -- an incredibly lucrative monopoly Wall Street firms have enjoyed unchallenged for more than a century. It's not easy to tell a bid from a bet in Google's share auction NYT Wagering Suspended on Google IPO Price Â Sportsbook â€œWe received an extraordinarily high volume of wagers from people in New York and California saying that the IPO auction would result in the stock opening below $110â€ SEC Probing Google on Stock TheStreet A Central Banker's Nightmare: Inflation and Slow Growth Together WSJ Today's Stock Market Looks A Lot Like Dow Back In The Early '30s IBD Whatever It Takes Rostenko Schaeffer on Charts: Clinging to Support Scha U.S. Trade Gap Represents a Lost Opportunity Bloomberg (Berry) The Trade Deficit's Widening Threat TheStreet Weak brokerage stocks a bearish sign for overall market CBSM (Hulbert) P/E ratios may hidethe bear IHT (Hulbert) The P/E ratio is still far above its historical average, but many Wall Street analysts are misusing the numbers to engage in some wishful thinking. Cement shortage hits US housing boom CS Monitor The real estate bubble that ate the stock market PBear Minnesota farmland prices growing like weeds Star Tribune â€œOne factor in the jump is that many farmers, uncertain over the stock market, held on to their land as an investment.â€ Consuming passions Economist As the American consumer tires, can shoppers in Europe, Japan and China take up the burden? Global institutional investors playing defense Bloomberg Gap between haves, have-nots expands USAT Is the Baby Boomer's Retirement Bubble About to Burst? CBN What's with the Fed raising interest rates in an election year? AP Are Bond Funds Hazardous? Reuters Rates on CDs, money market funds creeping higher USAT "Irrational Market Bubbles" -- Are They "Post-Modern"? Elliott Wave US Airways Seeks Pension Payments Delay to Avoid Second Bankruptcy AP Nortel Says Canadian Authorities to Begin Probe Globe & Mail Another Intel Delay -- Report TheStreet Tyson Says May Face Civil Action from SEC Reuters Allstate, Insurers Claims From Charley May Be $14 Bln Bloomberg Intelsat bondholders may sue to block sale-sources Reuters Libbey to close Calif. plant, cut jobs Reuters (Cash) Poor Martha! Diva Tries Illiquid Diet NYP (Crudele) Embattled NYSE Sees Profits Fall By Half NYP Business Focus: Bond raiders Times Online Citigroup this month netted up to â‚¬15m in an hour with an audacious coup that involved dumping â‚¬11 billion of government bonds. But its rivals say it bent the rules - and warn of a backlash to come Hedge funds play for time on SEC's plan FT Terrorism biggest threat to US economy-NABE survey Reuters Japan: Cloudy skies ahead for economy Yomiuri China Still Risks Hard Landing Despite Measures Radio Free Asia China: Pumping up the bubble Times Online China, land of 1.3B, is short of labor ~ The Dragon invests in Japan Asia Times House price boom grinds to a halt IndependentÂ RICS India's â€˜Unsolved Riddle' Needs Market Focus Bloomberg Emerging debt-Wall St relishes Chavez win, for now Reuters Ingram: Chavez is not oil's friend Globe & Mail OFT refusal on liability cap angers accountants Times Online Taiwan: Weakening Exports, Resilient Consumption Morgan Stanley (Xie) Per-capita tax burden soars to new high Korea Herald Offshore fever grips heavy equipment auctions Japan Times It was an auction of construction equipment, including road-graders, backhoes and dump trucks. The items were selling like hotcakes, but how long the fever will last is anyone's guess. Nation's flower industry wilts amid deflation, overproduction Japan Times Cement merchants offload stocks Gulf News Wait for 12 more years: OBC clarifies to GTB shareholders Indian Express Monday August 16 U.S. Empire State index plunges to 12.6 in August CBSM NY Fed Mind the Gap Hussman Global: Twin Deficits at the Flashpoint? Morgan Stanley (Roach) The great tech recovery is coming undone MSN (Fleck) Tech stocks are selling off because companies built up inventories for demand that hasn’t materialized. But the bad news has just started. PC shipments threatened by U.S. economy - Gartner Reuters Fed exposes fragility of US economic expansion Independent (King) We're in a secular bear market for the next 7 to 10 years Business Line Elite Bankers Now Pulling Plug On US Economy & Currency! Federal Observer Bush Economy, Viewed by Stock Market, Loses Investor Confidence Bloomberg Gross: Explanations -- which include terrorism, the war, oil or uncertainty involving the election -- miss the main point that we have a finance-based economy that has thrived for over 20 years on the basis of low and lower interest rates.Â The bloom had to come off the rose. What to Do as Consumers Cut Back Wall Street Journal Americans strain beneath weight of record-high bills Decatur Daily King Kong debt meets middle-class life CS Monitor In a generational shift, Americans have come to accept big credit-card balances as inevitable. U.S. Treasury Buyers Are Most Pessimistic Since 1990 Bloomberg Where US Interest Rates and Inflation Are Heading Arab News Bullish Energy Sector Sinking The Worldâ€™s Economy FS Allstate, Insurers Claims From Charley May Be $14 Bln Bloomberg Biotech companies growing, but they're not a panacea Mecury News Gateway Laying Off Hundreds in Midwest AP Is Ken Lay A Criminal? Mises SEC May Delay Sarbox Implementation CFO FASB Proposes Merger Restructuring Costs Makeover CFO Pink-Sheets Strumpet NYP Oil prices ease on Chavez victory CNN High Oil Prices: Here Today, Gone ... ? CIBC PDF Oil price could drop to $30, says OPEC chief Independent Property market in China a 'giant bubble,' says Xie Taiwan News Another one rolls over? ABN-Amro PDF Friday.s GDP data hints that perhaps this time isn.t That different in Japan Interest rate peak may be in sight Guardian Australian debt soars with property boom and easy credit New Zealand Herald State debt no boon for financial markets Japan Times GM's made-in-China Cadillacs to debut in early '05 Reuters Executives admit 24% of decisions are wrong Times Online World Bank ignores its own advice CS Monitor Iraqi Conference on Election Plan Sinks Into Chaos NY Times Iraq: Foreigners threatening mosque CNN Weekend Edition (Aug 14-15) Wall St. Bears Claw Back Into the Black Reuters Wall St. Pullback Reflects Tech Blowout Reuters Cyber Fears on Fedâ€™s Web Plans NY Post The Waiting Game 321 Iraq Halts Oil Exports from Main Pipeline Reuters $450 Billion Pension Fund Shortfall Mauldin The Fragile Stability of Monetary Disorder PBear (Noland) Synthetic HUI Options 2 ZEAL Looking Behind Earnings Growth Hudson Unconventional wisdom Guardian Interview: JK Galbraith, economist. Google to float despite new 'breach' Times Online The US Trade-Abyss Safe Haven Commentary: Brokers Aren't Advisers Business Week Soaring crude raises pressure at the pumps Times Online Currency woes leave SABMiller feeling flat Independent VW to offer car loans in China Bloomberg/AP Around Asia's Markets: Inflation, too, is in eye of the beholder Bloomberg Hurricane's Winds, Flood Waters Lash Fla. Reuters Friday August 13 Oil gushes past $46 a barrel CBSM Dollar Falls to 3-Week Low Versus Euro; U.S. Trade Gap Widens Bloom Gold futures up $5 in last half hour of trading CBSM Consumer sentiment worsens slightly CBSM Global: Razorâ€™s Edge Morgan Stanley (Roach) Producer Prices Up Less Than Expected ReutersÂ BLS The U.S. Trade Gap Widens to a New Record ReutersÂ Census OPEC Oil Price Reaches High on Concern Supply Will Be Disrupted Bloomberg Oil taps new record CBSM Market Ready for Major Drop Comstock Slowing to a trot Economist How sharply will the American economy slow down? And what will it mean for financial markets? A Good Excuse Jersusalem Post No panic in the Street CBSM Top banks are the new global hooligans Times Online Bank Removes Two Finance Execs Amid Accounting Probe CFO Diplomacy can't move oil to port NYT (Norris) What Are Markets Saying About Oil Morgan Stanley A shadow over semiconductors Asia Times The inventory build-up by chip powerhouses such as Intel, Texas Instruments, Broadcom and LSI Logic has reportedly increased the number of unsold chips industry-wide to a massive $830 million at the end of the June, from just $12 million at the end of March this year... Big tobacco in the dock as America prepares for biggest ever lawsuit Inde Shell pays ousted official Bloomberg H-P takes a near-record hit CBSM Lindows Shelves IPO - - Delta Slide Now at 15 - Analog Devices Plunges Interview threatens Google IPO DetFP Google: It doesn't add up CBSM Google IPO The Housing GSEs AEI Current recovery blind to education attainment EP ITwo Kinds of Competition Rockwell Japan April-June GDP falls short CBSM Why Asia Ignores Greenspan's Rate Increases Bloomberg Yukos oils a special relationship Times Online Yukos Advisorâ€™s House Bombed Mosnews Ruble Falls to '04 Low Vs. Dollar Moscow Times Estate agents feel impact of rate rises Guardian China: Automobile output, sales plunge in July Peopleâ€™s Daily China Could Rule Textile Market After 2005 WP India to increase share in international textile market PTI India: Bond Bubble Is Bursting Morgan Stanley Slaughter as US forces attack Najaf Australian Thursday August 12 Stocks stumble, day two CNN/Money Google auction to open Friday CBSM Oil Ends at Another High as Iraq Rages Reuters H-P stock rocked by profit shortfall CBSM Home prices soar in 2Q CNN/Money US Retail Sales Increase 0.7% - Excluding Autos, Rise 0.2% BL Census U.S. jobless claims fall to lowest level in month CBSM DOL Import Prices Up on Costlier Petroleum RÂ Census - $ flat to lower after data Debt and Delusion Mises Doomed Russell Federal deficit hits record $395.8 billion AP PDF Is a USA Economic Collapse Due in 2005? Global Research Recovery Doubts Raised by Cisco, Others ReutersÂ Investors Head for Doors Moodyâ€™s aims to boost ratings transparency FT Warning: Wall Street is secretly brainwashing you Farrell Perception and Reality in the Stock Market Elliott Wave Crude Oil Rises to Record in London Amid Drop in U.S. Supply, Iraq Output BL Venezuelan recall vote threatens oil CBSMChavez Faces Judgment Day FT Majority of households to see heating bills jump by 10%-20% this winter USAT US coal prices soar as output declines FT Gold geezer shrugs at $500 prospect CBSM Wal-Mart Q2 earns top, but rev misses forecasts CBSM HPâ€™s Net Misses Estimates on Falling Server Sales; Forecast Cut Bloomberg Benton's Andor Fund Assets Fell Almost 50% in July, People Say Bloomberg At Andor's annual meeting in May Benton asked investors to â€œride the technology waveâ€ with him Kerry vows to target Bush over Halliburton FT SEC suit accuses small tech company, brokers of stock fraud AP FX trading volumes hit record on data FT The dollar's wild gyrations on Friday following US jobs data resulted in record dealing volumes as billions of dollars changed hands in a single minute Credit Rating Regulation Is Coming, Ready or Not Bloomberg Tensions rise as economic power tilts USAT So is China a rival or partner? China July consumer inflation rises to 5.3% FT South Korean Central Bank Unexpectedly Cuts Key Rate Bloomberg Bank expects one more rate rise will bring inflation to heel Times Online Wholesale prices gain most in 13 years Japan Times IMF sees Japan recovery picking up speed Bloomberg/Reuters Techs take a battering after bad news from US Independent China's gold output expected to hit 210 tons Peopleâ€™s Daily Russia gold and currency reserves grow ITAR Number of jobless young hits a record 88 million AP Saudis try to calm prices, deny politics involved USAT Wednesday August 11 Gold futures fall, end under $400 CBSM Stocks routed toward dip CNN/Money The Deteriorating Economy Comstock Another Sibling in the Flation Family Mises 'Bubble' fear keeps lid on reno sector Financial Post The Bear's Lair: The way we live now UPI To Hold Cash or Not? Fool Oil Holds Strong Near $45 on Iraq, Russia Reuters World Oil Demand Stronger Than Thought Reuters IEA Boosts Oil Demand Forecast, Says High Prices Hurt BL Why oil price rise hurts more this time CBSM (Kellner) Get ready for $50 oil MSN Resource rally looks just like 1973 Financial Post Summer Meltdown Bears Fruit for Bear Funds TheStreet U.S. mortgage applications fall in Aug 6 week ReutersÂ MBA Cisco Profit Up, But Shares Fall ReutersÂ Schaeffers Ingram: CP Ships feels Nortel effect Globe & Mail Nortel Holders Sue Directors TheStreet National Semi Warns of Revenue Decline TheStreet Abercrombie & Fitch Warns on 3rd Quarter Reuters What if Google fails to keep hitting home runs? NYT/AP Halliburton in more Iraq trouble? CNNfn FASB Is Close to Resolving Stock Options Issue Bloomberg China's car buyers hold out for better deals Bloomberg BOJ monetary stance stands amid soft consumer prices Japan Times UK unemployment on the rise again BBC Pension time bomb that needs nerves of steel Independent 'Best may already be over for shares' BBC India's damaging fiscal deficit Asia Times Russia energy chief issues Yukos warning AFP Merrill backflips with prediction of 22% drop in rand Business Report Gambling on Rates Toronto Sun Fed hike could cool inflation -- and sink indebted consumers Fed Focuses on Inflation, Not `Soft Patch' Bloomberg September Fed Hike Seen: Analysts Reuters Tuesday August 10 Productivity Posts Slowest Rise Since 2002 AP BLS Fed raises rates by 25 bp FEDÂ Home equity cash gets pricier C Why an Interest-Rate Hike is a Big Mistake NYP (Crudele) Some analysts think Fed may hold rates steady Today C U.S. rate increase today could be the last for a while T-S Blue Chip Survey Cuts Growth Forecast Reuters US rates rise will hurt Bush more than borrowers Times Online Bush's dilemma: defend economic policy or admit problems AP Bush's House of Cards The Nation (Baker) The crash of the housing market will not be pretty. It is virtually certain to lead to a second dip to the recession. Even worse, millions of families will see the bulk of their savings disappear as homes in some of the bubble areas lose 30 percent, or more, of their value Stocks' Slump Raises Fears of Bear Market LA Times Schaeffer on Charts: Big Stocks Don't Cry Shcaeffers Isn't it odd how when the times get tough, the experts say to stick with the big names? A Key Move for the S&P 500 Business Week Adviser optimism has serious bearish implications CBSM Buffett ups bet against dollar to $19B Reuters What Happens When Policymakers "Exhale" Too Soon? Elliott Wave US Treasuries - a long term view Gold-Eagle Rostenko Spin the Payrolls NYT-Krugman (Registration Required)Â Glassmanâ€™s Spin AEI Bear market doesn't dent 401(k)s Reuters A three-year bear market that came after the tech bubble burst neither hindered growth in 401(k) retirement accounts nor discouraged investors from contributing to plans.Â ICI ReportPDF Housing yields fall points to market slowdown Reuters Residential property yields are falling sharply in key markets around the globe, indicating that a simultaneous worldwide slowdown in house prices is possible Armageddon date for peak oil is Thanksgiving 05 Newsweek ~Â About Ken Deffeyes Oil Prices Could Get Even Worse Business Week Is OPEC cooking the books? Merco Oil prices hit record high -- slowing of economy feared SF Gate Google This: IPO Market Is Wilting CFOÂ Engine Trouble NYP Trump casinos to file bankruptcy AP Trump Sacks Himself TisL Toy Makers Try an End Run Around Wal-Mart NYP Wamu's rating outlook may be cut to stable BL Lay is ready, willing and funded for trial Houston Chron Delta ratchets up bankruptcy warning FT Parmalat: Sept. 18 Deadline for Comments on Creditors BL Sues Advisor Fraud takes new forms, moving risks up for banks Boston Herald Macyâ€™s, Bloomies, Slapped By Spitzer NYP Reasons Why Gold Will Rise (revisited) Financial Sense China â€˜Walking a Tightrope' to Cool Growth Bloomberg Shoppers deterred by interest rate rises, say retailers Guardian Pensions safety net fails thousands of workers Times Online GDP growth slows in Italy as consumers remain wary IHT Canada's building boom 'blistering' G&M Bailiffs refreeze Yukos assets G&MÂ Yugansk Shares Arrested Again MoscowT Banks Struggle to Regain Trust Moscow Times State-Owned Banks Profit from Banking Crisis MosNews 'Korean society in egalitarian trap' Korean Times Italian magistrates investigate bribes allegations at Enipower Guardian Beijing: Road chief 'took bribes' SA Global currency is the answer to unstable world economy Straits Times Monday August 9 Oil Hits Fresh Record as Iraq Unrest Stops Output Reuters Google Issues Shares to Yahoo to End Disputes, Expects 3Q Loss BL Dollar May Drop on Speculation Fed Won't Lift Rates Next Month Bloomberg Treasuries May Fall as U.S. Sells $51 Bln of Debt Bloomberg The elusive back-to-school PC rush MSN (Fleck) Local Risks vs Extended Risks Hussman Illusion of sustained US recovery is fading fast Independent Global: The Mythical Recovery Morgan Stanley (Roach) Time to get out of this market? CBSM (Brimelow) More than a Soft Patch? Morgan Stanley (Berner) The Japanese economy: A lesson for the US economy? Brookesnew Prolonged growth is blotting out some harsh realities Telegraph Greenspan's Looming Dilemma Business Week Interest rate rises to hit households' debt loads FT Housing Bubble Reaches 'Profound' Stage Liberty Whistle With deficit pledges, it's easy to welch CS Monitor Why the next president is not likely to deliver on promises to cut the deficit The world economy sinks or swims in the black stuff Guardian Oil Slips Again as YUKOS Threat Eases Reuters On the Street, the Tough Crowd Rules Business Week Ruthlessness and randomness prevail thanks to hedge funds, leverage, and program trading. What's a small investor to do? Hedge Funds Are Everyone's Problem BW Tech Guru RebootsNYP (Byron) Say what you will of him, but America's worst stock picker alive simply won't call it quits. "This Is Not The Intel We All Know" Business Week The giant has fallen behind in chips for multimedia -- and investors aren't happy Google underwriters voice doubts on IPO FT Goldman Sachs Boosts Stock Trading Bets, Makes Less Money Bloomberg Days of wine and weather derivatives LA Times Investors silent on proposed rule changes FT Analysts say the apparent lack of interest is worrying because it could lead the SEC to favour suggestions from arrangers of securitisation transactions who do not want too much transparency. Gold May Rise on Concern of Terrorism at Olympics, Survey Shows Bloomberg Behold What The Fed Hath Wrought! Gold-Eagle Economists Lower 3rd-Qtr U.S. GDP Forecast in Survey Bloomberg Purchase of US assets by Asian central banks comes under scrutiny AFP It's Tough to Be a Chinese Bank These Days Bloomberg China steps into "credit card era" Peopleâ€™s Daily GM launches consumer credit arm in China Times Online Australian Central Bank Says Rates May Have to Rise Bloomberg Bush job rating falls to new low BeeÂ Job market to be top issue for voters Trib Weekend Edition (Aug 7-8) Fateful Friday may put a cap on interest rates Scotsman A Reuters poll of 20 economists (hopefully different from the ones who predicted the employment numbers) found all of them still expecting a quarter percentage point increase in interest rates to 1.5% on Tuesday Stocks struggle in face of 'creeping stagflation' CBSM Investors Beware G&M Makin: ”A whiff of stagflation is in the air," and the negative impact on corporate earnings and stock prices "could be ugly" 6% for No Change vs. 94% for +25 bps CBOT Kasriel: Sept Rate Hike Uncertain Bleak report on jobs cuts mortgage rates Rocky MN "If this softness in the economy continues, rates will go all the way to their historic lows of 5.25 percent” Investors Could Use Summer Break Reuters The recent economic indicators suggest more than just the temporary glitch that Greenspan expects. Silicon Valley's slump eroding optimism USAT Pending disappointment in Google stock will be a drag on market Cramer A Lean, Mean Reversion Machine Mauldin Silver's New Upleg Zeal Deflation and Depression: Where's the Link? Mises Revisiting Financial Arbitrage Capitalism PBear (Noland) Here's the "Why" Behind the "Surprise" Over Job Growth Numbers Elliott Wave Buffett's Currency Bet, Cash Holdings Cut Berkshire's Profit Bloomberg More layoffs coming from Schwab CBSM 4 former Halliburton employees allege high-level fraud NYT U.S. Probing Tenet in St. Louis TheStreet SEC eyes oil payments to Equatorial Guinea AP Salary increases inch up with employers' optimism USAT Research indicates that 2005 will be the fourth consecutive year that pay increases will average less than 4% Crash Watch - Broad Market back in Danger Zone Maund Chapman They've got industry and investors over a barrel Guardian Do not be fooled into believing that all stock markets require is a reversal in the rising price of a barrel of crude oil. Their problems run much deeper Stagnant stock markets kill off the day traders Times Online Bankruptcies reach all-time high Independent Higher interest won't stop us splashing out yet Independent But spend, spend, spend will come to an end Dollar Has Biggest Weekly Drop Versus Euro in 9 Months on Jobs Bloomberg Friday August 6 Stocks slammed by employment data CBSM The major indexes all hit new lows for the year Friday Weekly Leading Index Update ECRI The WLI has telegraphed very clearly that the U.S. economy did not hit a "soft patch" this summer, but rather is experiencing a cyclical decline in growth OECD Composite Leading Indicators (CLIs) for June 2004 OECD Telling Factors Newman Best of Richard Russell IR Gold Has Biggest Gain in Four Weeks as U.S. Job Growth Slows Bloomberg U.S. July Payrolls Rise 32,000 Bloomberg BLS Job gains also were revised lower for the preceding two months Jobs Data Hit Stocks, Dollar, Boost Bonds Reuters The Power Over Money Arab News No Alternative to Stocks? A Flawed Assumption Comstock Just Try Not to Lose in This Bear Market TheStreet (Cramer) Who will be the Fed's next victim? CNN/Money From Franklin National Bank to Orange County, rate hikes have hurt. Who will suffer this time? Fed rate policy doesn't target stock prices: study Business Times -- How Did the Fed Respond to the Stock Market? Boston Fed PDF U.S. oil hits record after BP refinery fire Reuters Trader: “Everybody's talking about $50 a barrel” CBSM Economic risks of high oil prices CS Monitor Schaeffer on Charts: Isn't It Odd? (Part deux) Schaeffers Reality bites for new Realtors SF Chronicle A listless labor market has pushed thousands into real estate jobs -- but there are too many agents and not nearly enough listings What fuels malaise in job market? NYT (Norris) Hedge funds show first loss in two years FT Do You Really Care If Mutual Funds Have Too Much Money? Elliott Wave Berkshire Profit May Fall as Buffett Adds Cash, Slows Insurance Bloomberg Berkshire held $40.9 billion of cash as of March 31, more than any other U.S. company...Buffett held $18 billion of foreign currency contracts as of March 31 Why Wall Street wants Google to fail MSN (Jubak) The most anticipated initial public offering in years threatens to derail a cherished gravy train, where underpriced shares are handed out to favored investors and grateful CEOs Halliburton faces new fraud suit Reuters Sara Lee Frays At Its Seams Forbes Belo says Dallas Morning News inflated circulation AP Former Enron official pleads guilty to manipulating market AP Berkshire subsidiary accused of land fraud Omaha World Herald NYSE Under Threat Economist U.S. stock funds have inflows of $1.4B CBSM (TrimTabs) Bank's warning stirs expectation of sixth rate rise in September Times Online Japanese Ten-Year Bonds Have Biggest Weekly Gain in Five Months Bloomberg Oil prices brake the boom in India NYT China's Exchange-Rate Regime Violates WTO, According to the FCA PRN IMF and World Bank shorten October meeting after alert Reuters Thursday August 5 Dow Ends Below 10,000 as Oil Hits Record Reuters Oil Surges to Record as Moves by Russia May Cut Yukos Output BL Crude oil prices rise after brief pause CP Pumping All They Can? Economist {}U.S. weekly jobless claims fall in latest week CBSM DOL Why Wall Street Is Guessing Wrong on Jobs Growth NYP (Crudele) Fewer US jobs posted on Web in July, Monster says Reuters Lemonade for Sale Pimco (Gross) Foreigners own half US debt, tipping point unclear Reuters Fed Is Expected to Raise a Rate on Tuesday NYT â€œâ€The Carry Trade Ecomomy Puplava ~ Borrowing Short - Investing Long Put away your deflationary concerns. We are more likely to begin the process of hyper-inflating than we are deflating. â€™Bond investors appetite for risk still strong FT Cheap funding keeps carry trade alive Optimism of wealthy hits 6-month low Reuters US banks seen vulnerable to high mortgage holdings Reuters Summer's hot buy: $1 million-plus homes Seattle Times Google discloses possible securities violations AP IPOs on the Edge Ahead of Google Reuters Ahead of the most highly anticipated initial public offering of the year, investor appetite is running cold for new deals Wal-Mart Same-Store Sales Up 3.2%, 2nd-Slowest Pace in 04 BL TGT - FD - COST - JWN - SHRP - PIR - CHS - TLB CBSM Struggling Janus Is Still Suffering Blows Thomson Halliburton: Call it the Ken Lay fantasy settlement Boston Globe. Bristol-Myers Squibb agrees to pay 150 million to settle SEC charges AP Grant Thornton to settle with SEC Reuters How to Identify Risk Before It Identifies YOU Elliott Wave Oil surge heightens worry for corporate earnings FT Analysts say $50-a-barrel oil is possible AP For a quick profit, investors turn to oil IHT (NYT) Germany's Eichel Says Oil Price May Damp Global Growth Bloom Gasoline prices could climb soon, observers say AP Inflation without Gold - the Record Kitco Bad for stocks, good for gold? CBSM (Brimelow) Bank of England Raises Key Rate to 4.75% Bloomberg IMF Delays Argentina Loan Over Debt Talks, Utility Rates; Currency Tumbles BL Why we may soon be wondering when interest rates will start to fall Independent Public pensions need extra 50bn Times Online China Puts Boot Into Japan Sport and Economy Bloomberg Russia: July Sent a Jolt Through Investors Moscow Times Consumer gloom hits South Korea BBC Investment bank hit by turmoil at the top Times Online BSkyB shares dive as Murdoch spells out plans Guardian Italy's Mafia banks on trash CS Monitor Will China clothe the world? CS Monitor The Outsourcing Boom Reaches China NBR China suspends work on Olympics 'bird nest' Straits Times Wednesday August 4 July Service Index Rises at Faster Pace Bloomberg ISM 3 Banks Robbed During Bush, Kerry Visits Iowa Oil Falls as Yukos Given Access to Funds, Gasoline Supply Rises BL Global Markets: Oil Surge Batters Stocks Reuters World Indices Oil Sets Record for 4th Day on Output Capacity Concern Bloo No easy fix for our Saudi oil habit MSN The Price of Oil SH Whose Side Are the Saudis On? AEI Response to a Viewer - Is Stock Market Cheap or Expensive? Comstock Weakness At The Core: The Looming Pensions Time Bomb PBear Explaining away lousy earnings is a fine art CBSM Nasdaq Approaches Critical Support Financial SenseT Too Much Bubbly at the Fed? CEPR (Baker) The New York Federal Reserve Board's Analysis of the Run-Up in Home Prices U.S. mortgage applications ease in July 30 week Reuters MBA Weak spending could bog down economy CBSM (Kellner) Borrowing More and More Isn't Fiscally Responsible Bloomberg A Recession to Remember Kudlow Does an eldercare crisis loom in the US? CS Monitor Study: Independent Buy Recommendations Outperformed Investment Banks PR Ford, GM sales slip; Daimler rises CBSM InterActive Sees Hotel Squeeze TheStreet Ads Still a Big Problem at Martha Stewart Living TheStreet Schlotzsky's files for Chapter 11 Indy Dean Foods Profit Falls on Milk Costs R $776 million loss sends Qwest shares spiraling down Rocky MN S&P Cuts AT&T's Debt Ratings to Junk Reuters Halliburton Says SEC Subpoena Expands Nigeria Inquiry Bloomberg Cheney still haunted by Halliburton heyday Guardian Former head of failed CenTrust bank unrepentant as sentence ends AP British court favors J.P. Morgan in Enron dispute HChron SEC Mulls Action Against Wachovia TheStreet Spitzer office to sue benefit company Reuters OM Group Blames Past Employees for Accounting Problems CFO SEC probes Evergreen; improper trades alleged Boston Globe Fidelity brokerage arm fined $2m Boston Globe United seeks to halt suits over pensions DP (B) Anthem Sues Over WellPoint Merger Block AP Three siezed in fraud probe Sac Bee Hedge fund assets up 34% in 2003 CBSM Price of Seat on NYSE is Plunging NYP NYSE South African Mining in Crisis Goldseek Gold Bull 70's vs. Today King Butler German Unemployment Rises to 11-Month High in July Bloomberg Yen Suffers, Oil Dims Japan Growth Hopes Reuters Property market slowing, Halifax says Times Online Mortgage lenders' house price figures are flawed, says builder Guardian Pension deficits hit FTSE 100 firms Guardian Canadian pension funds hurt by bond market slump in second quarter: RBC CP Pessimism hits firms in Korea IHT (B) Monetary base up for 42nd month Japan Times Iraq surveys its oil fields as prices keep bubbling NYT WestJet CEO apologizes Globe & Mail Tuesday August 3 U.S. layoffs increase 8.1% in July CBSM U.S. incomes, spending weak in June CBSM BEA Biggest drop in spending since Sept. 2001 U.S. Oil Strikes New Record Above $44 R “The oil price is very high, it's crazy. There is no additional supply” President Yusgiantoro Crude Rises to Record -- OPEC Can't Pump Enough B China's crude oil import to hit 110mln tons Xinhuanet A recent analysis report of China's Ministry of Commerce forecasts China's crude oil import will reach 110 million tons in 2004, up 21 percent year-on-year and setting anew record Why so high? Reuters Deutsche warns oil price may hit $100 Scotsman How The Commerce Dept. Made The Recession Disappear NY Post (Crudele) Nasdaq bounce is no reason to relax CBSM Walls of Worry Rostenko SEC Moves to Shut Down Hedge Fund Reuters SEC: The partners "sent false quarterly statements and newsletters to investors, consistently overstating the fund's value and performance" Tranquil August days? G&M No Fear Schaeff Tech offerings slow sharply FT Snow urges raising US debt ceiling AP US Special: is America's cup half full or half empty? CityWire Why new kind of deficit is headed our way Burns In the last 74 years, normal government operations have run a surplus eight times: 1930, 1947, 1948, 1951, 1956, 1957, 1960 and 2000. The combined total surplus in those years amounted to 9.5 percent of GDP. In 2004 and 2005, alone, the deficits in the normal budget will total 10.4 percent Have the Twin Deficits Lost Their Bite? Morgan Stanley Rubin's Choice Seat Is a Reminder and an Omen Bloom (Baum) Fewer getting insurance through jobs USAT Absolute Labor Disadvantage FS Outsourcing in Financial Services BIS PDF Biotech investing a high-risk gamble Asia Times Bottom line: if someone promises triple-digit gains, run CBSM Several Value Managers Hoard Cash IBD In Private World of Hedge Funds, a Famous Name NYT While such a combative public personality as Mr. Icahn's may run counter to the traditional image of hedge fund managers as secretive operators, he is simply the latest prominent financier who has looked to assemble a hedge fund in the last few months Hedge fund warning as HSBC reports record profit Guardian “The risk of market disruption rises as financial institutions use increasingly similar technology to manage risk.” Lycos fetches a paltry price CBSM from a valuation of $12.5 billion to $95 million in less than four years Prudential decides to hang on to Egg FT A series of extensive talks failed to produce a high enough offer for the business. Don't Get Caught Up in Googlemania WP Gambling on Google Slate Blodget: “For reasons that will soon be clear, participating in the Google IPO auction is gambling, not investing.” General Motors Boosts Rebates for Credit Customers Bloomberg Bailout deadline failure hits Euro Disney Times Online ‘Merrill Rule' a Bad Deal for Individual Investors Bloomberg Franklin Advisers settles for $50M USAT Ex-Enron Division Chief Pleads Guilty CFO SEC: 1,300 ''Whistles'' Blown Each Day CFO NYSE to expand electronic trading system Reuters NYSE Citigroup's godawful new campaign Slate What Made Rothbard Great North Another Great Depression? North When the lights went out in Xinjiang Times Online China is 30-35 gigawatts short of the energy it needs this year, a gap equivalent to four fifths of the energy Britain generates in a year. Average monthly wage continued decline in June Japan T Fazio Urges Italy to Cut Debt as Economy Struggles BL Rate rises check High Street boom BBC Yukos Faces New Tax Probe for 2002 Moscow Times BOC Hong Kong Suspends Two Executives Pending Probe Bloomberg FSA imposes first Ofex trading fine Independent Financier jailed for fleecing Geneva bank Swiss Info Windfall stock scandal still teaches hard lessons Globe & Mail Reports that led to terror alert were years old, officials say FT (NYT) Monday August 2 Factory Momentum Remains At Impressive Levels PDF ISM Captured Qaeda Figure Led Way to Information Behind Warning NYT Treasuries, Gold, Oil Rise on U.S. Terror Alert; Dollar Falls Bloomberg NYSE, IMF Targeted by Al-Qaeda, U.S.'s Ridge Says Bloomberg DHS Different Bubble, Different Outcome? Contrary Investor In Democracy We Trust Pimco (McCulley) A crash around the corner? FT Is a USA Economic collapse due in 2005? StudienvonZeitfragen Chip glut troubles even the Dead Fish MSN (Fleck) As inventories build here and in China, even market cheerleaders are taking a second look. So should you Will outstanding high short positions lead to short-term rally? AME (Faber) Strategies for an Inefficent Market Hussman The dog ate my quarterly report, and more excuses from Big Business Morgen.. Conventional Wisdom on Rate Hike Not So Wise NY Post Has Alan Greenspan raised interest rates for the last time in his 17-year career as Fed Chairman? The odds say no, but those odds could be changing fast Financial Markets Forecast and Analysis SH The '90s boom and the '60s -- what you don't know but should Brookesnews Examining the monetary situation in the 1960s casts considerable light on the present situation. U.S. debt limits economic policy choices IHT (NYT/BL) Even as the candidates unfurl their clashing economic philosophies, some experts say the next president will not easily pilot the American economic ship. To an extent not previously seen, U.S. economic policy will be constrained by foreign debt Bush's Biggest Deficit: Consistency Business Week Bailout might be needed for U.S. pension insurer Reuters Balance sheets often don't show all liabilities AP Among 120 of the major companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index, long-term debt rose by a median of about 30 percent when operating leases and other financing arrangements were added to the balance sheet Funds Erase Bad Scores Wall Street Journal Bogle: “What we think of as the typical mutual fund's returns are grotesquely overstated" Real Estate bubble about to burst? Troy Record Interest-only mortgages turn up the heat in homes TD (Currier) “A new form of mortgage - no money down and interest-only payments for years - is converting homeownership from a solid investment into a dangerous gamble” U.S. Oil Hits Record, Nears $44 a Barrel Reuters Why oil prices may stay sky high CS Monitor Simmons hopes he’s wrong Petroleum News Crisis, crunch or crumble: after Yukos, it's time we started fearing for the future of Saudi oil Inde Why 04 Will Be Remembered as the Year Oil Production Peaked How Transitory Are Mr. Greenspan's "Transitory Factors"? AEI Gold May Rise as Dollar Falls, Oil Gains, Survey Says Bloom Parmalat Sues Citigroup for $10 Billion CFO Asserts that ''the top levels'' of the financial services firm played a crucial part in the multibillion-dollar fraud that led to Parmalat's bankruptcy. Google's IPO isn't hot with everyone USAT Bearish Fund Comes Out of Hibernation Reuters NYSE Flub is a Public Disclosure NYP Prosecution Fumbles NYP (Byron) Firms Flush With Cash Still Wary of Spending LA Times (Free Reg) SEC Tests Technology to Speed Accounting Analysis Reuters Central bank coxswain can't fully trust the crew Ind (King) Bubbles and busts play around with people's expectations of future economic performance BOE Rate rise likely despite output fears Guardian Homeowners to be hit by rate-rise blitz Guardian CBI calls on Bank to reject pressure for half-point rate rise I Yukos Given a Month to Pay Moscow Times Japanese Land Prices Decline for 12th Year in 03 Bloom The key to solving China's economic bubble lies with its banks TheStandard China stock scam grows USAT Chinese companies with unreliable financial statements are beating a backdoor path to unsuspecting U.S. investors Hard Truths For Japan's Softbank Business Week