With most of the attention on the session being focused on US announcements surrounding subprime concerns, Eurozone economic data fell to the wayside. Granted, there wasn't much to go on. However, what was reported gave a little more hope as to further expansion in the economic region.

For one, unemployment remained relatively still, keeping in time with the previous figure of 6.9 percent. Economic confidence and business climate were also positive for Euro growth and underlying currency appreciation. For the month of August, business assessments were higher at a 1.41 print compared to the previous 1.35. The figure complimented the economic confidence report, which showed stabilization in the region. However, one report did lend some bearish undertones, which would have minimized any gains purported by the previous two indications in normal market conditions. According to statistics agency, German retail sales figures were far less than expected. Rising by only 0.3 percent in the monthly comparison, the figure actually fell further by 1.5 percent on the year. This means that although economic conditions may be improving, the overall propensity for people to spend just isn't there. Although perceived as somewhat

JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke vowed Friday to do all that is necessary to protect the national economy from the ill effects of a global credit crunch -- but not to bail out investors and lenders "from the consequences of their financial decisions."

President Bush confidently predicted the country would safely weather the financial storm.

Friday's comments -- made in separate appearances -- by Bernanke here and the president in Washington, sought to send a reassuring but tough love message: Fed policymakers and the Bush administration are on top of the situation that has unnerved investors on Wall Street and around the world and raised anxiety on Main Street. But they'll act in the best interests of the economy.

While Bush announced steps Friday to help homeowners struggling to make their mortgage payments, he made clear he has no interest in bailing out lenders, some of whom got cocky, took on too much risk and ended up with bad loans.

"The government's got a role to play, but it is limited," Bush said at the White House. "A federal bailout of lenders would only encourage a recurrence of the

On Aug. 29, we asked you if you would buy, sell or hold this stock. The answer is you should have bought it -- not off the base, which failed, but from a solid rebound off its 10-week moving average.

Capella Education (NasdaqGM:CPLA - News) is an online provider of mostly postsecondary schooling. The school is headquartered in Minneapolis, but its 19,000 students are in every state and 56 countries abroad.

The company had just put up earnings that accelerated in four quarters from 33% to 109%. Sales gained more than 20% in three of those periods.

Capella is in a hot group, too. Commercial Services-Schools is ranked No. 8 out of the 197 industries tracked by IBD, as of Thursday's edition. It has clawed its way higher from the No. 41 slot -- also pretty hot -- over the past eight weeks.

We've already revealed that Capella, which went public last November at $20, had built a seven-week cup, breaking out without a handle in the week ended Jan. 19

It is said that the Great Wall of China, built more than 2,000 years ago, can be seen from the moon. More recently, the country's super-sized stocks have become highly visible too.

Following an 18-month rally, the total universe of mainland Chinese stocks, including those listed in Hong Kong, now stands at some $5,000bn, eclipsing the Japanese market. Chinese companies have taken the number one slot in large parts of the global economy. Measured by market capitalisation, the world's largest bank is Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (at $280bn), while the biggest telecommunications group is China Mobile ($260bn), and China Life and Air China take the top slots in insurance and aviation respectively.

Being big has, well, big advantages. Fund managers are unlikely to trawl through Thai fish processors when they can just buy a Chinese Godzilla and match their peers' performance. Even Chinese companies are playing fund manager, by buying shares in other companies on the basis that this will bloat earnings faster than plant expansion (even if it means the market collapse, when it comes, will deliver a double-whammy).

But are China's corporate giants quite as mighty as they look? Dual listings in Hong Kong and China muddy the waters. If all of ICBC's shares were at the same

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush will outline reforms on Friday to help struggling subprime mortgage borrowers, and his central bank chief will deliver a speech which will be pored over for hints of a looming rate cut.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks on "Housing and Monetary Policy" at around 10:00 a.m EDT.

Bush, who will make a statement at the White House an hour later, will announce assistance for homeowners with subprime mortgages to avoid default via changes to the tax code.

"He will also discuss reform efforts to prevent these kinds of problems from arising in the future," a senior U.S. administration official said.

Massive problems with U.S. home loans, stemming from aggressive lending mainly to poor people who have been squeezed as interest rates climbed, have fostered a liquidity crisis around the globe as banks have scrambled to calculate their exposure to the sector.

The risk of a credit squeeze arising from mass mortgage defaults has also raised the prospect of U.S. consumers trimming spending at a rate that could tip the

The US dollar rallied as the Dow Jones Industrial Average started the day with triple-digit losses, but a later rebound in domestic stock markets left the greenback relatively unchanged through the afternoon. Morning US economic data proved largely uneventful, as second revisions to Q2 Gross Domestic Product numbers fell in line with consensus forecasts. Yet a simultaneous jump in Initial Jobless Claims painted a dreary picture for the future of labor market growth.

The Euro lost ground against its American counterpart, shedding $.0030 to $1.3645. The British Pound similarly lost on the early stock market tumbles, dropping $.0033 to $2.0141. Meanwhile, the Japanese Yen was the biggest gainer on the day; the US dollar fell ¥0.40 to ¥115.71.

Markets showed little concern over morning US economic data, with the dollar remaining almost squarely unchanged following the release of GDP and Jobless Claims figures. The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported the US economy expanded at a 4.0 percent annualized pace through the second quarter?its strongest performance since Q1, 2006. This represents a noteworthy upward revision to earlier estimates of a 3.4 percent growth rate, but consensus forecasts showed expectations of a slightly higher 4.1 percent result. The very marginal disappointment was hardly cause for alarm, however, and the dollar remained stable through subsequent trade. Yet the attached Personal Consumption numbers sent a relatively clear warning that consumers have cut back spending through the medium

DALLAS (AP) -- Dell Inc. said Thursday that preliminary second-quarter earnings jumped 46 percent on stronger sales of enterprise products and services, improved average selling prices and favorable component costs.

The computer maker said it earned $733 million, or 32 cents per share, in the three months ended Aug. 3, compared with $502 million, or 22 cents per share, a year ago. Sales rose 4 percent to $14.8 billion.

The results beat the prediction of analysts polled by Thomson Financial, who expected earnings of 30 cents per share on sales of $14.63 billion.

The report comes as Round Rock-based Dell emerges from a yearlong internal investigation into accounting misconduct.

Dell said it will have to reduce more than four years' worth of earnings by up to $150 million for misleading auditors and manipulating results to meet performance.

"While our results demonstrate we've made progress against our goals, we are still in the early stages of transforming our company's structure, costs and

Sears Holdings Corp.'s second-quarter profit dropped 40 percent on lower overall sales and weaker operating results from Kmart and its domestic Sears operations.

The earnings reported Thursday by one of the nation's biggest retailers were also being compared with results that included a gain on a large legal settlement a year ago.

"We are disappointed with our second quarter results," said Aylwin Lewis, Sears Holdings' chief executive and president.

Net income for the period ended Aug. 4 fell to $176 million, or $1.17 per share, compared with $294 million, or $1.88 per share, in the previous year.

Quarterly revenue dipped 4 percent to $12.24 billion versus $12.79 billion a year ago.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected earnings of $1.13 per share. Those estimates typically exclude one-time items.

"Our gross margins came under pressure from sales declines and increased promotional activity, and as a result, our net income was significantly below last year

NEW YORK (AP) -- The Marlboro man is packing his saddle bags.

With the Wednesday announcement that it would spin off its Philip Morris International cigarette business, Altria Group Inc. moved forward on a plan that will ultimately put the biggest seller of Marlboro brand cigarettes in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The spinoff will shrink Altria to include Philip Morris USA, the biggest cigarette maker in the U.S., and a 29 percent stake in London-based SABMiller PLC, which brews Miller Lite beer.

When the spinoff is complete, Altria plans to close its Fifth Avenue headquarters in Midtown Manhattan and lose about 400 jobs in the process, with some employees possibly relocating to a new headquarters to be established in Richmond, Va., where Philip Morris USA is based. That plan is projected to save at least $250 million

Materialism

The constant advertisements thrown at us, and virtually all the peer pressure we experience try to convince us that to be "good patriotic Americans" we have to buy a bunch of "stuff". We are supposed to invest in America—have confidence in the economy—by taking out huge mortgages, buying cars, spending all our money, and even going in debt if need be. Worrying that constant growth cannot be sustained forever is un-American, according to them.

What is Interest?

Interest is the fee you pay for borrowing money. It should be considered legal theft. Charging any rate of interest on loans used to be called usury, and was against the law in most Christian countries (as well as condemned by the Catholic Church). Usury was condemned because of the very nature of money: it is not productive—that is, it does not produce wealth by itself.

About the Money Supply

The USA does not print its own money. The "Federal" Reserve, a private bank, creates and manages our money supply! It is neither federal, nor does it have any reserves.

VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Oil prices edged upward Wednesday in anticipation of a report showing declines in U.S. crude and gasoline supplies.
Comments from OPEC that no output increases were needed also supported prices.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery rose 7 cents to $71.80 a barrel by noon in European electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract dropped 24 cents to $71.73 a barrel Tuesday in the U.S.

Nymex gasoline futures rebounded by just over a penny to $2.0258 a gallon (3.8 liters) in electronic trading after dropping 2.39 cents in the day session.

Gasoline futures have been a main driver of oil prices in recent days. A number of refinery outages rekindled concerns about fuel supplies just as inventory reports have been indicating gasoline demand has remained strong late into the U.S. driving season.

But several of those refinery problems, including a reported outage at Citgo Petroleum Corp.'s refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas, are apparently being resolved.

A crude distillation unit at Valero Energy Corp.'s refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, has also been restarted, although at a lower rate after down time of about a week. And Dow Jones Newswires reported that the processing units at a 330,000 barrel per day Chevron Corp. refinery in Mississippi have returned to service.

Oil prices alternated between gains and losses Tuesday after Abdalla Salem el-Badri, secretary general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, told

A million dollars seems like a lot of money because, well, it is a lot of money. Thing is, racking up that sum isn't nearly as difficult as most folks imagine. Indeed, after putting just a few sound financial principles into action, you can basically sleepwalk your way to financial independence. Here's a two-step plan (pun intended) for doing just that.

1. Take maximum advantage of your company-sponsored retirement plan.
The 401(k) contribution limit for tax year 2007 weighs in at a hefty $15,500. Even if you can't kick in quite that much, do everything you can to contribute enough to take full advantage of your employer's matching contribution, if one is provided. Hey, that's free money -- and because your contributions will be automatic, once you set the wheels in motion, they'll just keep turning without additional work on your part.

And just how far will those wheels take you? Quite a long way. A 40-year-old who kicks in $10,000 each year between now and age 62 will have more than $760,000 if her investments match the S&P 500's historical rate of return: 10.5%

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Warren Buffett's company has bought 10.1 million shares of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. since Thursday, increasing the legendary investor's stake in the nation's No. 2 railroad to nearly 14.8 percent.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. revealed its three latest railroad stock purchases in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Monday.

Both classes of Berkshire's stock fell less than 1 percent Friday before the filing was released. Berkshire Class A shares, which are the most expensive U.S. stock, lost $850 to close at $119,000. Berkshire Class B shares lost $29.50 to close at $3,965.50.

The Omaha-based company bought more than 4.3 million shares for $79.96 apiece on Thursday and nearly 2.5 million shares for $79.97 on Friday. On Monday, the company bought more than 3.3 million shares for $80 apiece.

It's the third set of BNSF purchases Berkshire has reported this month, with the first two sets totaling about 2.5 million shares.

That brings Berskhire's total stake in the Fort Worth, Texas-based railroad to 52.1 million shares. The new shares were bought by Berkshire subsidiary National