Pebble Beach Golf;Knicks Win;Northeast Blizzard

At the AT and T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am,celebrities and PGA Tour members played rounds together Thursday and Friday.Notables ranging from Macy's CEO Terry Lundgren and comedian Bill Murray,to NFL star quarterback Aaron Rodgers and actor Josh Duhamel,navigated three different Monterey Peninsula golf courses on the edge of the Pacific Ocean.
Bill Murray joked with armed forces personnel attending the tournament.
At the end of the second round along the sweeping Pacific vistas,the leader board was as follows:
Ted Potter,Jr. USA -8
Brandt Snedeker USA -8
Patrick Reed USA -7
Frederick Jacobsen SWE -7
John Merrick USA -7
Hunter Mahan USA -7
Jason Day AUS -6
Patrick Cantlay AUS -6
Nick O'Hern AUS -6
James Hahn USA -6
In NBA action,the New York Knicks edged the Minnesota Timberwolves 100-94 at Target Center in Minneapolis.Carmelo Anthony led the Knicks with 36 points and 9 rebounds,while Ricky Rubio contributed 18 points and 2 rebounds to the Wolves' effort.The Knicks are now 32-16,in second place behind the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference;the Wolves are well back in 12th place in the Western Conference at 18-29.
A major winter storm lashed the Northeast with snow and hurricane force winds Friday.Topping snow totals as of midnight were:
Mt.Sinai,NY 19.0 inches
Manchester,CT 18.5
Boston,MA 14.0
Blizzard warnings were posted from coastal Maine to New York City.
On the Maryland-Pennsylvania border,there were just a trace of snow,some light rain and blustery winds-the fringes of the storm.

Market and Arkansas Razorbacks Achieve Goals

It was a good week for the stock market and the Arkansas Razorbacks.Encouraged by a positive employment report and a promising result from the Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing survey,the Dow logged a 1.17% weekly gain,while the NASDAQ led the way with a 2.65 uptick and the S&P added 1.61 to its ledger.
Some dismissed the expansion of employment by 200,000 jobs in December as a result of seasonal hiring.They also pointed out that the number of long term unemployed remains at 5.6 million.The Euro-zone debt crisis,Iranian behavior and U.S. deficit issue remain significant headwinds as well.
The Arkansas Razorbacks won their school record 11th football game of the season as they soundly beat the Kansas State Wildcats 29-13 in the AT&T Cotton Bowl in Arlington,Texas.It was the Razorbacks' fourth Cotton Bowl trophy,the last one being earned in the year 2000.The game was held at the NFL's largest venue,Cowboy Stadium,before a spirited sellout crowd of 80,000.
AT&T,which is based in nearby Dallas,has been a Cotton Bowl sponsor for 16 years.
Next week,earnings season begins as Alcoa reports its Q4 results on Monday.Also on Monday,German Chancellor Angela Merkel will hold talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy on European financial problems.In addition,retail sales and consumer sentiment reports could color the market's performance.The S&P futures rose 1.10 on Friday evening,and bond index futures edged higher as well.
AT&T(T)

Manufacturing Slows,Jobs Feeble

The manufacturing sector slowed worldwide recently,the latest data show.This was the one area of the economy that seemed a sure thing.The Institute for Supply Management charted a fall-off in activity,however,from 59.7 in May to 56.2 in June.It is still expanding if the number is above 50-just at a slower pace now.Factory orders fell 1.4% in another report,the largest drop since March of 2009.The question arises whether we are backing and filling or going over a cliff.We'll have to wait till at least next week to know,when earnings season gets underway.
The big report of the week,the unemployment figures from the Labor Department,were hardly reassuring.A loss of 125,000 jobs was recorded last month,while private industry created 83,000 positions.We need 150,000 a month to make a dent in unemployment.In consequence,the stock market clocked out with another weekly loss.The S&P fell 5.0,while the Dow stumbled 4.5 and the NASDAQ also slipped 5.0.The S&P futures registered a further decline of 7.5,and bond futures also gave up ground ahead of the Independence Day holiday.We are down 15% now from the market high of last April.The red returning to portfolios makes it feel like a lot more than 15%.
Boston Red Sox fans forgot about this as the Sox edged Baltimore 3-2 tonight behind 43-year old pitcher Tim Wakefield.In the AT&T National tournament at Aronimink in Newtown,Pennsylvania,Tiger Woods made the cut,shooting a mediocre 70,+3,and Justin Rose topped the leader board at the close of day two.

Olympic Fever

Olympic fever is setting in as the Vancouver games get underway and it's a long weekend in the U.S.NFL football is over and the snow is piled high in many areas.Business seems a million miles from every one's minds except the games' sponsors such as Visa and Verizon.They are in their own competition:Visa with Mastercard and American Express;Verizon with AT&T.As long as AT&T is allied with Apple,which is for the foreseeable future,it's in a very strong position.It doesn't have to worry too much about Verizon.Visa used to slam American Express all the time.It will be interesting to see what their line is for these games.As a processing company,it doesn't have the economic sensitivity of an American Express,which has to worry about defaulting consumers.
Greece was the first team to enter BC Place,the opening ceremony venue.Its own debt problems have dominated financial headlines this week,and will probably do so next week as well.Its European neighbors haven't yet finalized an aid package,so the market will still have that uncertainty to contemplate.In the meantime,let's all have a low-stress weekend.We'll cross the icy bridge when we come to it.