- Yahoo Finance mentions the August rally and how much was given back in just a couple days. To wit, the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq were up 1.7%, 2.1% and 4.4%, respectively, last month but heading into today's open had already relinquished 1.2%, 1.5%, and 2.3% since Tuesday. It's easy to get whipped around on a 2-day 2% swing! Here's a 5-day of the SMH, QQQQ, and SPY.
- Does your neck of the woods have a housing bubble blog yet? Sacramento has one. This has been the most advertised and anticipated bubble of all times. Folks have been predicting the demise of housing since the 2001 recession. Inventory levels are sure climbing now, though. I've heard some rumblings that not-so-serious sellers may be taking their homes off the market and that new home construction may be slowing down. That'll help reduce supply. But is it too late?
- More Path to 9/11 fun from Seixon (hat tip to Michelle Malkin), suggesting that ABC could simply insert a slate over scenes in The Path to 9/11 that the Democrats find objectionable. People are funny. Does everyone make up their minds before seeing the movie based on talking points from the DNC or RNC? I mean, c'mon.
- Those looking for a reason for the swoon in the markets this week are (partly) blaming the stronger labor wage numbers. Barry Ritholz asks Are labor costs really rising? My thoughts? I'm a software developer, so in my industry wages fell off a cliff after the dot-com bubble burst. The combination of Y2K being over and the Fed slowing down the economy created quite a supply of programmers. At the same time offshore labor became educated and extremely cheap, keeping downward pressure on. But I've noticed lately that demand has picked up and wages are rising. Just one view from the technical trenches.
- Why Water Could Become More Valuable Than Oil. This is probably true, but have you noticed how water stocks get hyped and un-hyped over and over again? A one-year chart of PHO, an ETF for water. Maybe I'll have to add it to my scans.
- Mark Hulbert has an interesting one on the desperation of investment ads. ...the distinct impression I get from reading the various ads I receive is that advisers are finding it harder and harder to attract new subscribers, and as a result are resorting to increasingly outrageous claims.
- TGIF!
