Economy - Friday      (Investor's Business Daily)
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Investor's Business Daily - For the week ended Aug. 31, the Economic Cycle Research Institute&#39;s Weekly Leading Index rose to 140.4 from 139.2 the prior week after declining for 6 straight weeks. Higher stocks, better housing activity and jobless claims helped weekly numbers. But the index&#39;s annualized growth rate fell to 0.6% from 1.3% the prior week. That&#39;s a 43-week low, but not yet a signal that recession is on the way, the ECRI said.
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Plus: Alcatel outlook weak...Cisco profit climbs...Time Warner lowers earnings target...Electronic Arts lowers outlook.
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Investor's Business Daily - Higher input costs and a shortage of skilled workers tempered the latest survey by the National Association for Business Economics. The goods-producing sector was the least optimistic, with industrial and agricultural firms planning to continue cutting jobs. Still, overall activity, hiring and capital spending have rebounded from a weak Q1.
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Investor's Business Daily - Average 30-year rates fell to 6.14% from 6.18% in the prior week. The 15-year rate averaged 5.86% vs. 5.92%, while 1-year ARMs fell to 5.47% from 5.49%. Rates are at their lowest levels so far this year, Freddie Mac said, citing worries over last week's sell-off in stocks and concerns over the slowing U.S. economy.
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Investor's Business Daily - Investors got a friendly package from FedEx Wednesday: big quarterly results and higher forecasts.
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Investor's Business Daily - It's not likely you've heard of James Burton. But it's likely you've heard him.
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Investor's Business Daily - Energy companies led Chinese stocks to a record high Friday. Turnover in Hong Kong was the second-highest ever.
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Investor's Business Daily - Big-cap stocks flourished and value stocks outperformed again as U.S. stock funds enjoyed modest gains overall in the third quarter. Small- and mid-cap growth funds slipped.
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Investor's Business Daily - The ABC News Consumer Comfort Index fell 6 points to -33 in the week ended Feb. 3. The index dived 13 points in the last month. It fell 13 points in 4 weeks ahead of the '90-'91 recession and 14 points in the 4 weeks leading up to the '01 recession. Just 26% say it's a good time to buy, the lowest since July '93. 52% are positive on their own finances, but that's down from 58% a month ago.
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Investor's Business Daily - 1 Big M&amp;A deals kicked off the shortened week as a consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland launched a $96 bil bid for Dutch bank ABN Amro  , and Archstone-Smith  , a REIT, agreed to a $22.2 bil buyout by 2 equity groups. RBS&#39; offer for ABN topped Barclays  &#39; earlier $86.6 bil bid, but analysts said ABN&#39;s previous decision to sell LaSalle to Bank of America   clouded the deal.
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Investor's Business Daily - Despite rising interest rates, the Mortgage Bankers Association&#39;s seasonally adjusted index of application activity edged up 6.6% to 666.5 in the week ending June 8. Its index of purchase activity rose 7.2%, while refinancing activity climbed 5.6%. Analysts called it a scramble to head off rising borrowing costs. Mortgage rates are at their highest since mid-&#39;06.
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Investor's Business Daily - Investors pumped $4.8 billion into stock funds in August as the stock and bond markets rose amid slumping oil prices and easing inflation jitters.
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Investor's Business Daily - The Economic Cycle Research Institute's Weekly Leading Index, fell to 139.7 in the week ended Oct. 19 from 140.1 the prior week. Falling stock prices and the housing slump were to blame. The annualized growth rate fell to -0.5% from the prior week's -0.3%. "While economic growth will indeed slow, a recession is not likely," ECRI Managing Director Lakshman Achuthan told Reuters.
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Investor's Business Daily - The Mortgage Bankers Assoc.&#39;s application index rose 0.9% to 631.6 in the week ended July 13, as homeowners rushed to refinance their loans due to fears that interest rates will head higher. Homebuyer applications fell. The 4-week moving average of applications fell 0.5%, down for the 8th straight week.
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Investor's Business Daily - There might come a day when U.S. investors don't have a hopeless crush on Chinese stocks, but that day won't come soon.
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Investor's Business Daily - The Internet's 800-pound gorilla, Google, slipped on economic and social-networking banana peels, reporting fourth-quarter results that missed analyst views.
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Investor's Business Daily - Networking giant Cisco Systems may be in short-term pain. But it's looking past that to long-term gain.