A significant number of pundits focus on the ECRI Weekly Leading Index (WLI) in their quest to make sense of the stock market’s most likely direction, whereas some advisors and economists are highly critical of the measure. But what is the ECRI WLI all about?

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"I expect the rally to last for only a few more days with highs for the S&P 500 and FTSE 100 to be reached by next week at the latest," Robin Griffiths from Cazenove Capital told CNBC. "I expect losses for equities throughout August and September and see an October low for the S&P 500 of 940," he said.

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German business confidence improved strongly in July, taking economists by surprise. The business expectations, current situation and business climate indices are all approaching the highs last seen at the start of 2007.

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Contrary to expectations, UK GDP growth in the second quarter of this year exceeded expectations by a significant margin. The economy grew by 1.6% compared to a year ago, while the market expected 1.0%. The growth in the preceding two quarters was also upped somewhat.

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Don Coxe has updated his popular webcast on Friday, July 23. Follow the link from this post.

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On this week’s WealthTrack, Consuelo Mack interviews Hersh Cohen, Chief Investment Officer of ClearBridge Advisors, a division of Legg Mason. The key question posed to him is: “How long can low yielding bonds deliver better returns than some of America’s highest quality blue chip companies, which have dividends offering competitive yields and have a history of increasing dividends every year?”

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This post provides links to a number of interesting articles I have read over the past few days that you may also enjoy.

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The video clips in this post provide a handy summary of the reports expected on the economic, financial and corporate front around the globe during the week ahead.

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Today's piece of humor as nothing to do with investments, but concerns soms glorious insults from an era before the English language got boiled down to 4-letter words. Enjoy!

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Goldman Sachs' economist Jan Hatzius has just released a new report on the U.S. economy subtitled "The second half slowdown." The report details the key headwinds facing the American economy, many of which have the impact of building a deflationary environment.

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Love him or hate him, 85-year old Richard Russell is the doyen of investment letter writers – having been at it for more than half a century – and his views as expressed in his daily Dow Theory Letters always make for stimulating reading. This post summarizes the R man’s “big picture” view of the U.S. stock market.

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Keith McCullough believes the government should dramatically cut back on spending. However, Barry Ritholtz warns that we could face another recession.

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This post provides links to a number of interesting articles I have read over the past few days that you may also enjoy.

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Market chart readers view stocks as being vulnerable to further declines, while fundamental analysts see stocks as a bargain given strong corporate profits, reports Barron's Michael Santoli.

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Jim Hamilton used the Federal Reserve Flow of Funds data to pose a question: who will buy “the additional $8 trillion in net new debt that would be issued over the next decade under the CBO's alternative fiscal scenario?” In this guest post, Rebecca Wilder argues that the domestic private sector will accumulate the paper.

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Cartoonist Nate Beeler is on the money with this one ...

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Jeremy Grantham has become a familiar and very popular face on this site. For those treasuring his insight, wisdom and prescient calls, the co-founder and chief investment strategist of Boston-based GMO has just published the July edition of his quarterly newsletter entitled “Summer Essays”. Click through for Grantham's thoughts ...

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"The bias remains cautious and the path of least resistance remains down until a variety of resistance levels can be overtaken," said technical analyst Kevin Lane in this guest contribution.

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"Equities are going to lose you money between now and October. You either sell right now or wait for the rest of the rally and sell into that," Robin Griffiths from Cazenove Capital told CNBC when taking a technical look at the FTSE.

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I have long been of the opinion that equity analysts are generally too optimistic on earnings forecasts. Research by McKinsey & Company now offers rather compelling evidence in a paper entitled "Equity analysts: Still too bullish". Read on ...

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