- So we're getting the "expected" friday down day after trending up for the week. In a week where there are profits to be had, friday tends to be a good day to take 'em. This is where we may find out if there are dip buyers in our midst. It may be a little early to see that just yet. Maybe we'll see them step in on any consolidation next week. The week after options expiration tends to be a little weak, after all. For today, I don't mind seeing some weakness, but I'd like to see a little uptrend in the day during the last hour. But that's just me.
- Consumer sentiment falls on inflation fears. "Fears" are often different than reality, but we have to acknowledge the fear, right? "The declines reflect the headline effects of the escalating Middle East conflict, the London terrorist arrests, rising gasoline prices, Fed tightening fears, and the housing slowdown," said economists at Action Economics. "Similar headline affects seen four or five times through this expansion have not translated to an impact on actual consumer spending, and there is little evidence that this time is different." Wall of worry?
- Notice in candy bar commercials how folks just take little tiny bite off the corner of the candy bar? Who really eats a candy bar like that?
- Here's a study casting doubt on the Body Mass Index (BMI). Writing in Friday's Lancet medical journal, the researchers from the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota, found that patients with a low BMI had a higher risk of death from heart disease than those with normal BMI. At the same time overweight patients had better survival rates and fewer heart problems than those with a normal BMI. How'd you like to be the woman they singled out with a picture? An overweight Brazilian woman and her friend walk into the surf on Ipanema beach... Diet and lifestyle matters. I'd like to see the same study overlayed with folks who eat low-fat vegan diets.
- Stupid Investment of the Week: Brokerage sweep accounts. Very good column by Chuck Jaffe. ...if your brokerage sweep account is paying less than 3.5% interest on your money, you've got a Stupid Investment of the Week.
