WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2007
Wednesday Edition: If the Market's Hot, Why Does So Much Else Stink?
How is it possible that the Dow can hit 14,000 on the same
day that milk prices are
touching $4 a gallon, oil prices
topped
$75 a barrel and residential home builders
issued yet another bleak forecast?
How bad is it?
Today, the government will report its estimate for
June housing starts. Economists are predicting a 1.6 percent drop to a seasonally
adjusted annual rate of 1.45 million. That's the second lowest total in 10
years.
Also
today, we will get a peek at current oil production and supply figures, which
should drive prices down some.
The market does not always follow the overall economy. The
St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times explains that investors who might have parked in
real estate have fled to the stock market. The
high gas prices and soft housing market are factors in the lagging retail sales
figures. Fewer new homes mean people don't buy new washers, dryers, stoves and
such.
There are other
factors in the market's run-up over the last week. The Times explains:
Clearwater portfolio manager Grady Garrett at LBS Capital Management said this week's rally, which propelled the Dow to 13,907.25, was partly a chain reaction.
He said short sellers, those who bet
that the market will decline, had gotten too bold. They operate by
selling borrowed stock with the hope of being able to replace it at
cheaper prices. When the market makes a strong move up, they scramble
to buy stock to cut their losses. That sends the market up further and
attracts momentum traders who buy on "breakouts."
Other sidebars:
Who was "Dow," and why did he have an "average"?
What stocks are included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average? The Dow Jones Industrial,
Transportation and Utility Averages are maintained and reviewed by editors of The Wall Street Journal, which of course
makes Rupert Murdoch's acquisition all the more valuable. The industrials list is
constantly changing. Here is
a history of the list.
How
is the Dow Jones Industrial Average calculated?
'Four
Feet Under': The Untold Story of Children's Deaths
The Express-News in San Antonio, Texas, has an extraordinary project called "Four Feet
Under" -- that is the depth of a child's grave. The paper explains the project this
way:
Today the
San Antonio Express-News illuminates the crisis by giving it a human face.
Fourteen faces, actually. That's how many child deaths CPS [Child Protective Services] classified as abuse
or neglect in Bexar County in the fiscal year ending Aug. 31, 2006 -- a per-capita fatality rate that ranks third in the state and
much higher than the national average.
We spent
10 months examining the lives and deaths of all 14 children, whose fates ranged
from brutal abuse to heartbreaking lapses in judgment by otherwise loving
parents, from failings of system to failings of society.
From
sources, police and autopsy records and interviews with dozens of family
members, law enforcement officers and child protection officials, there emerged
out of the statistics real children. David. Triston. Abigail. Jay. Jose.
Ericka. Elijah. Lenny. Brian. Guadalupe. Ruben. Brianna. Braden. Treasure.
Some of
the children were smothered. Three of them drowned. Eight came from families
that had a history with CPS.
Most of
the families couldn't afford funerals or gravestones.
Here, all
in one place for the first time, are those 14 stories, representing a year's
worth of deaths, many heretofore untold. Short lives. Little histories. The big
picture, pieced together in a way you've never seen before.
Al's Morning Multimedia: 'Four Feet Under'
Take a look at the deep and rich
multimedia segment of the "Four Feet Under" project that I mention above. The story is so difficult, in part because all Child Protective Services records in Texas are closed to the public, including the names of the children. The paper is planning to detail how it got the kid's names and stories in coming installments of the project.
In addition to vignettes about each
kid, the multimedia section includes videos and even medical examiner reports
about each death. I am not sure I have ever seen medical examiner reports included in this
kind of coverage. One of the most moving
pieces included an interview with a gravedigger at a local cemetery who has dug
the graves for little kids.
Why University Summer Schools are Crowded
Go by your local university, and you will find lots of
students taking summer classes this year. Why? Because some schools are
offering incentives -- plus it is easier to find parking spaces or get into
classes that are overflowing in the regular school year.
Here
is a story in the Los Angeles Times.
Teaching Hockey Kids to Fight
I have to say I was a little surprised to read in the Minneapolis Star Tribune that there is a hockey camp that teaches kids the correct way to fight in a
hockey brawl. The site
even includes the top five tips for how to effectively fight on the ice.
Interactive Cars
The
Associated Press says cars are increasingly loaded with interactive gadgets like GM's
OnStar, Ford's Sync and BMW Assist.
The interactive systems represent $3.5 billion in
sales today and are expected to grow to between $12 billion and $16 billion by
2012 to 2014.
Some
of the newest gadgets, like Sync, not only help drivers in emergencies but allow
parents to send text messages to kids on the road. Some of these gadgets also send a message to a
parent if the kid drives too far or too fast. It would be interesting to see
how many calls your local emergency center gets from these driver-assistance
systems like
OnStar.
We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and hot links.
Editor's
Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story
excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as
original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly
from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided
whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends on the
accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. Errors and
inaccuracies found will be corrected.
Posted at 11:18:13 AM
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