Don Fails To Satisfy Texas

The residents of south Texas had seen Tropical Storm Don as the hope of their drought-stricken lives;at least initially,it was nothing of the sort.By the time Don reached the Gulf coast,it had been downgraded to a tropical depression.Don seemed to be too weak to significantly penetrate the dry air mass that has been parked there.Scattered showers brought less than an inch of rain to some Texas locations,but the rainfall deficit is on the order of 17 inches.
It is the worst drought in the recorded history of Texas.Agricultural losses from it will inevitably hit consumers in the pocketbook with headline inflation.
Wall Street was disappointed in a Congress that failed to deliver an end to the sovereign debt crisis.In consequence,it had the worst week of the year.The Dow dropped 4.24,and the S&P lost 3.92 as the NASDAQ followed them down 3.58.A dry GDP report didn't help.The nation's economy grew at a worse than expected 1.3% in Q2.That's not enough to create jobs.
The Jefferies/Reuters CRB commodities index fell 0.8 on Friday.Oil was down to 95.70 a barrel,but gold notched a record 1621.20 an ounce in the uncertain economic environment.
The Washington Nationals couldn't create victory,losing their sixth in a row to the New York Mets 8-5 at Nationals Park.The Mets' Jason Bay went 2-4 with a run and RBI to his credit.Reliever Jason Isringhausen,38,successfully closed the game out for the Mets,with whom he started his long major league career in 1995.
Next week sees the release of the critical July employment report.The S&P futures weren't looking forward to it,losing a further 8.40.The longer maturity bond index futures rose.

Worries,Wildfire and Sun Devils

The stock market rolled further down its losing path this week,finishing lower for the sixth straight week for the first time since 2002.The slowness of the recovery,a ballooning national debt and overseas concerns remain stumbling blocks to further appreciation of most equities as a correction drives investors into the havens of bond funds and cash again.
Opportunists scoop up bargains at such times,but profit-taking is the rule of the day,especially on the cusp of a weekend with all its inherent uncertainties.For the week,the Dow lost 1.6,and the S&P surrendered 2.2,with the NASDAQ falling 3.3.Commodities dropped on Friday as the dollar rose,as expressed by the Reuters-Jefferies CRB Index,which slipped 2.30.
The Arizona State Sun Devils didn't slip when they cuffed the Texas Longhorns 3-1 at the NCAA Super Regionals Friday evening in Austin.The first game of the best 2 out of three series was taken control of when Arizona State scored two runs in the top of the 3rd on two Texas errors and an RBI single.
In 2002 and 2005,the Longhorns lost game 1 of the Super Regionals,only to come all the way back and take the College World Series.For tonight,however,the Sun Devils' Joey DeMichele led the way to a win,going 2-4 with 2 RBIs.
At home in Arizona,wildland firefighters worked on saving small towns from a forest fire that was only 5% contained.Five hours from Phoenix,the fire may take up to 3 weeks to fully control.The communities of vacation homes,cabins and resorts will be at risk till then,and in the past it has taken such resorts 5 years to recover from a blaze of this size.
The markets will give their attention to several reports next week,including retail sales,housing starts and inflation.The S&P futures slid a further 18.20 Friday evening,and bond index futures rose on the new week's promise.