Stocks slide after sell-off in Asia

It had been a great week. The market was doing better then expected. OPC is still on the upward mode. It will be $ 4 in no time. I am optimistic about this stock. The overall market is on the slide. This will give opportunity for the investors who were waiting in the side lines. I am hoping that TPUT will rise in one month. I am hoping for good things from “C”, “RF”, “Dow” and “F”

- NEW YORK (AP) -- The stock market was poised to end August with a sharp drop as worries about the world economy reappeared. Major stock indicators fell at least 1 percent in early afternoon trading Monday after a 6.7 percent plunge in China's main index that also prompted selling in other countries. The decline in stocks was broad, but the biggest losses were among energy and material companies as prices for commodities like crude and copper plummeted. The selling of Chinese shares has been fed by concerns over a tightening in bank lending that could hurt that country's economy. China, which has continued to grow despite the global recession, is a major consumer of U.S. exports including commodities. Chinese stockpiling this year of such goods as copper and soy have helped drive up commodities prices.

- Investors Wonder Whether Profits Based on Cost Cutting Can Long Endure as stock investors turn their focus to earnings prospects for the second half and 2010, they are zeroing in on one of the market's biggest challenges: lackluster corporate revenue. The market barreled ahead this summer and is hovering near its high for the year, fueled in large part by stronger than-expected second-quarter earnings. But a significant driver of the good news was cost cutting. Many companies posted disappointing sales.

- CALGARY, Alberta (AP) -- PetroChina Co., Asia's largest oil and gas company, is making a $1.7 billion investment in the Canadian oil sands. Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. said Monday that PetroChina is buying a 60 percent working interest in its Mackay River and Dover oil sands projects in northeastern Alberta. Bill Gallacher, chairman of privately held Athabasca, said it is hard to finance oil sands developments in the traditional equity markets. He said a joint venture with one of the world's largest oil companies will ensure the two projects are completed on time. "Oil sands projects are very capital-intensive, long-term investments and difficult to fully finance in the traditional equity market," Gallacher said in a statement. He said striking strategic joint venture arrangements with PetroChina "can ensure that the MacKay River and Dover projects will be developed in timely manner, which is excellent news for Alberta and the rest of Canada."

- NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices fell nearly 4 percent to below $70 a barrel Monday as a steep drop in China's stock market raised doubts about the strength of the U.S. and global economic recovery. Benchmark crude for October delivery lost $2.78 to settle at $69.96 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the first time oil has ended a trading day below $70 in about two weeks. "It's just a market that doesn't want to stray too far from $70 a barrel," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates. "It looks like we're probably going to finish this month about where we started, and about where we started the summer." China raised some red flags last week as government officials seemed to suggest they would cut back on bank lending in coming months, essentially removing one of the stimuli they have added to the Chinese economy, said PFGBest analyst Phil Flynn. The Shanghai Composite Index plunged 6.7 percent on Monday, adding to a nearly 3 percent drop on Friday, on concerns of a tightening in bank lending.

- GENEVA (AP) -- American goods will face around $295 million in annual sanctions as a result of the United States' failure to eliminate illegal subsidies to U.S. cotton growers, the World Trade Organization ruled Monday. The result was disappointing for Brazil, which has won a series of rulings against the U.S. over the last seven years. The South American country sought to target American goods and drug patents for $2.5 billion worth of economic retaliation. The WTO ruled the sanctions should vary depending on U.S. payments each year. Arbitrators used 2006 as a base year for the ruling, and said U.S. payments would have to increase significantly for Brazil to be allowed to punish American drug patents. "The cumulated amount of countermeasures to which Brazil is entitled to is $294.7 million," the WTO said in a two-part ruling totaling 269. Washington argued that the award should not exceed $30 million. "While we remain disappointed with the outcome of this dispute, we are pleased that the arbitrators awarded Brazil far below the amount of countermeasures it asked for," said Carol Guthrie, spokeswoman for U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk.

- LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Walt Disney Co. is buying Marvel Entertainment Inc. for $4 billion in cash and stock, bringing such characters as Iron Man and Spider-Man into the family of Mickey Mouse and WALL-E. Under the deal, which was announced Monday and is expected to close by the end of the year, Disney will acquire the rights to 5,000 Marvel characters. Many of them, including the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, were co-created by the comic book legend Stan Lee. Disney CEO Robert Iger said Marvel's comic books, TV shows, movies and video games amounted to "a treasure trove of content." Iger said the deal would bring benefits like the ones Disney got from buying "Toy Story" creator Pixar Animation Studios Inc. for $7.4 billion in stock in 2006.

- Brace yourselves. Only a year after the housing and credit bubble officially burst with the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, a new "bubble of mammoth proportions" is starting to grow, says James Altucher, managing partner, Formula Capital. Bubble 3.0 (Internet and housing being bubbles 1.0 and 2.0, respectively), comes thanks to the stimulus bill. "We have a trillion dollars coming. Only 10% of it's been spent. Interest rates are near zero." Altucher's advice: follow the stimulus dollars and invest in the infrastructure stocks that are rebuilding America.
Topping his 'buy' list:
Vulcan materials
Astec Inudstries
Lindsay Corporation
Nucor Steel
Titanium Metals (Disclosure: Altucher owns Titanium Metals)
But what about the growing government debt that funds these projects?
Altucher isn't concerned. "The U.S. debt is not really that bad relative to other industrial countries." In fact, borrowing money for massive government works projects is "prudent financial management," Altucher says. "Better to borrow now when interest rates are cheap."

Oil near $75 per barrel on economic optimism

We are looking healthy in the economic side of things. I was expecting a pull back this morning, instead DOW gained quite a few points this morning. AIG and FNM are still on the rise, makes you wonder how wrong you are predicting this market. Some one is manipulating the market. It does not make any sense if you look at the whole market. It was a good week and weekend overall. I was pleased to get some rest.
I sold all my MGM and C shares. I made a few dollars. I just Hope that I am right that the market will pull back this week and I
will be able to get in cheap next week. OIL prices are at a record price this morning for the year but I am not too optimistic that it will stay there or rise. It will come down again.


- HOUSTON (AP) -- Oil prices approached $75 a barrel Monday for the first time in 10 months amid growing optimism that the world's economies are on the mend. Benchmark crude for October delivery rose 73 cents to $74.62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil last topped $75 in October. Natural gas rebounded strongly from new seven-year lows Monday, though prices remained well below $3 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Expectations that demand for energy will grow were spurred Friday by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who said the U.S. economy is reviving. Bernanke's remarks and signs of improvement in the U.S. housing market sent stock markets higher, and that carried over into the new week. Even before Bernanke spoke, however, prices had already begun to rise on a large and unexpected drawdown in U.S. oil supplies last week.
Equities appeared to follow energy prices, which took off midweek. Asian and European markets were higher Monday, and the Dow Jones industrial average rose moderately in early trading.

- EDINBURGH, Scotland – Scotland's justice minister on Monday doggedly defended his much-criticized decision to free the Lockerbie bomber but said Libya had broken a promise by giving the convicted terrorist a hero's welcome. Britain, meanwhile, scrapped a trade visit to Libya by Prince Andrew amid controversy over the release of convicted bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi and Scottish lawmakers came back from summer vacation a week early to debate the issue. Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said the warm homecoming welcome for al-Megrahi breached assurances from Libyan authorities that "any return would be dealt with in a low-key and sensitive fashion." "It is a matter of great regret that Mr. (al-) Megrahi was received in such an inappropriate manner," MacAskill told the Scottish parliament. "It showed no compassion or sensitivity to the families of the 270 victims of Lockerbie."

- KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – The first woman in Muslim-majority Malaysia to face caning for drinking beer was reprieved Monday because of the holy month of Ramadan. Her family said she would rather get the thrashing with a rattan cane now and put the ordeal behind her. Islamic officials had taken Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, a 32-year-old mother of two, into custody and were driving her to a women's prison for the caning when they abruptly turned around and sent her back to her family home in northern Malaysia. "She feels like a football being kicked around," Kartika's father, Shukarno Abdul Muttalib, told The Associated Press. "She's so exhausted and unhappy with the delay. She would prefer to just receive the six strokes and have everything finished."

- WASHINGTON (AP) -- Wall Street may have discovered a way out from under the bad debt and risky mortgages that have clogged the financial markets. The would-be solution probably sounds familiar: It's a lot like what got banks in trouble in the first place. In recent months investment banks have been repackaging old mortgage securities and offering to sell them as new products, a plan that's nearly identical to the complicated investment packages at the heart of the market's collapse. "There is a little bit of deja vu in this," said Arizona State University economics professor Herbert Kaufman. But Kaufman said the strategy could help solve one of the lingering problems of the financial meltdown: What to do about hundreds of billions of dollars in mortgages that are still choking the system and making bankers reluctant to make new loans.

- WASHINGTON (AP) -- Wall Street may have discovered a way out from under the bad debt and risky mortgages that have clogged the financial markets. The would-be solution probably sounds familiar: It's a lot like what got banks in trouble in the first place. In recent months investment banks have been repackaging old mortgage securities and offering to sell them as new products, a plan that's nearly identical to the complicated investment packages at the heart of the market's collapse. "There is a little bit of deja vu in this," said Arizona State University economics professor Herbert Kaufman. But Kaufman said the strategy could help solve one of the lingering problems of the financial meltdown: What to do about hundreds of billions of dollars in mortgages that are still choking the system and making bankers reluctant to make new loans.

- Kabul, Afghanistan – The top two candidates in Afghanistan's presidential race both claimed to be on their way to victory after Thursday's vote. Meanwhile, the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) has received roughly 150 official allegations of election fraud and expects a significantly larger number to arrive in the coming days. With preliminary vote-count results days away, each camp is working to influence public perceptions and gather legal ammunition for appealing a possible loss.

It looks like a start of a bad week

I was on holidays last week. It was a good week.
Steve and Mai was a blast to spend time with.
We did not get a lot of sleep but it was a good few days off to reenergize.
The market looks very unsure this morning.
We might be heading toward a down slop again.
I just hope that we don’t slide further.
Maybe it’s not a bad time to load up on
“C”, “CEMJQ”, “F”, “DOW”


- NEW YORK (AP) -- Investors' rising fears about consumer spending is turning stocks into a risky investment again. Stocks plunged and Treasury prices soared Monday as investors around the world feared that consumers are too anxious to lift the economy into recovery. The losses on stock exchanges extended the heavy selling that began Friday with a disappointing reading on consumer confidence. And bond investors, once again searching for a safe investment, bought heavily into Treasuries’. The Dow Jones industrials fell 165 points, while overseas, the Shanghai stock market tumbled almost 6 percent and the major indexes in Europe fell more than 1.5 percent.

- NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil fell over 3 percent to below $66 a barrel on Monday, its lowest this month, as investors became more cautious about the pace of global economic recovery and a potential revival in energy demand. U.S. equities fell broadly, pressured by persistent concern for the global economy, with data from Japan, the third largest oil consumer, showing that economic recovery may be shaky. (^N - News)
U.S. crude oil futures for September fell $2.14 to $65.37 a barrel by 11:19 a.m. EDT, after earlier hitting $65.23, the lowest since July 31. Brent crude for October lost $2.17 to $69.27.

- WASHINGTON (AP) -- Foreign demand for long-term U.S. financial assets rebounded in June even though China and Russia trimmed their holdings. The Treasury Department said Monday that foreigners purchased $90.7 billion more in long-term U.S. securities than they sold in June. That's a significant rebound from May when they sold $19.4 billion more than they purchased. "There is little evidence in recent (Treasury) reports to suggest that foreign investors are growing weary of buying U.S. securities," Jay Bryson, a global economist at Wells Fargo Securities, wrote in a note to clients. The increased appetite for Treasury securities was partly because their yields rose in early June, he added.

- Legendary investor Jim Rogers says he can't wait for the International Monetary Fund to sell some of its gold holdings. Should that cause the price of gold to dip, Rogers says he will buy some more. In fact, Rogers says he buys gold whenever he thinks about it. "If it goes down I'll buy some more, and if it goes up I'll buy some more," Rogers said in a CNBC interview. "I periodically buy some gold. I don't have a method to it. I just buy it." The IMF is the world's third largest owner of gold reserves. The number-one holder of gold is the United States, followed by Deutsche Bundesbank.

- TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's economy climbed out of yearlong recession in the second quarter, the government said Monday, expanding 3.7 percent at an annual pace and joining Germany, France and other regions that appear to be emerging from the global financial crisis. But economists and politicians sounded cautious, noting that the main driver of growth was exports and that domestic consumer spending remained fragile amid plunging incomes and rising unemployment. The recovery in the April-June quarter was driven by robust demand for cars, video recorders and other electronics goods, according to government data. Shipments to China and other emerging markets were particularly strong, although exports to the U.S. and Europe also showed modest recoveries. Exports grew 6.3 percent from the previous quarter, the highest rate in seven years.

Are we on the road to recovery?

It was a long weekend and eventful. We had enjoyed this weekend.
I am looking forward to the next week. It was a great week and month for DOW.
Records were broken and it looks like that we are on right track.
The market looks bright early. I just hope that we continue to do well. I am still optimistic about TPUT, OPC and SIRI. I know it has to fly at some point.

Things are still slow in the OILSANDS. I hope that we see some activities during the 4th quarter. We need it. There are a lot of speculations over Voyager and Fort Hills project.
We just need some positive news.

- WASHINGTON (AP) -- Americans opened their wallets and pocketbooks a bit more in June, increasing their spending for the second straight month while saving less, even as incomes fell sharply. Consumer spending is closely watched because it accounts for about 70 percent of total economic activity. Many economists warned that despite the slight increase in June, falling wages and rising unemployment likely will keep spending sluggish for the rest of this year. Still, the housing market continued to show signs of life as pending U.S. home sales rose in June for the fifth straight month, according to the National Association of Realtors. The group's pending home sales index rose more than expected to 94.6, from an upwardly revised reading of 91.3 in May. The last time there were five straight monthly gains was July 2003.

- MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Months after its first offers were rejected, PepsiCo Inc. said Tuesday it plans to buy its two biggest bottlers, Pepsi Bottling Group and PepsiAmericas, in deals worth a total of $7.8 billion. The world's second-biggest drink maker said Tuesday the deals will allow it to respond more quickly to a changing market as consumers seek out healthier options like juices and teas, rather than soft drinks. It will also allow the company, whose soft drink sales have been slipping, to control costs and more tightly manage its business.
PepsiCo, which makes brands like Pepsi and Gatorade, will pay $36.50 per share for the shares it does not own of Somers, New York-based Pepsi Bottling Group and $28.50 per share for the shares it does not own of Minneapolis-based PepsiAmericas.

- NEW YORK, Aug. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SIRIUS XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI - News) announced today that Audi will offer its customers an introductory three-month trial offer of the "SIRIUS Everything" package upon the purchase of all SIRIUS-equipped certified pre-owned Audi vehicles sold in the U.S.
(Logo: http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=AqcddmDtFJlXfQra.OCcTeGxcq9_;_ylu=X3oDMTE2NDIwaDcxBHBvcwMxBHNlYwNuZXdzQXJ0Qm9keQRzbGsDaHR0cHd3d25ld3Nj/SIG=11ti2hcfu/**http:/www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080819/NYTU044LOGO)
Audi will continue to offer SIRIUS as standard equipment on key models sold in the U.S., including the A3, A4, A5, A6, A8 and R8 models as well as the Audi Q7 and Q5 models. "SIRIUS is all about delivering the best in-class entertainment service that our customers expect to find in Audi vehicles," said Mark Del Rosso, Chief Operating Officer, Audi of America. "The Audi experience has always been about more than just driving, and that's why we know our customers want SIRIUS' sports, news, talk and 100% commercial-free music in their certified pre-owned Audi vehicles."

- WASHINGTON – Pending U.S. home sales rose in June for the fifth straight month, another encouraging sign of life for the embattled U.S. housing market, the National Association of Realtors reported Tuesday. For June, the Realtors group said its pending home sales index rose 3.6 percent to 94.6, from an upwardly revised reading of 91.3 in May. The last time there were five consecutive monthly gains was July 2003. The results were far better than analysts expected. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected the index to come in at 91.2. The report tracks signed contracts to purchase previously owned homes and is considered a barometer for future home sales. Typically there is a one- to two- month lag between a sales contract and a completed deal.

- Oil prices fell below $71 a barrel Tuesday, as investors booked profits after a big rally fueled by signs of economic recovery in the U.S. By midday in Europe, benchmark crude for September delivery was down 92 cents to $70.66 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier in the session, the contract fell as low as $70.28. On Monday, the contract rose $2.13 to settle at $71.58. "Oil has rallied to levels seen in June, before the sharp decline of nearly 16 percent," said analysts at Sucden Financial in London. "Given continuing poor oil fundamentals, current high prices seem difficult to sustain." A report Monday from the Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing executives, said U.S. manufacturing activity should increase next month for the first time since January 2008. Also, the Commerce Department said construction spending rose in June.

Happy days are around the corner - Enjoy while you can

This is much better. Last week was a good one.
We have seen DOW rise above 9000 mark.
CAEI is on the move. I sold AVRNQ and made a
few dollars last week. The dark horse “CEMJQ” is on a roll again. What a relief. Looks like UUU is looking very good this morning. Maybe OPC and OCNF are finally breaking through. I think RF might be a good buy this morning. This is looking much brighter then before. I don’t know when I was excited about Monday before.

- WASHINGTON – New home sales in June posted the fastest increase in more than eight years as buyers took advantage of bargain prices, low interest rates and a federal tax credit for first-time homeowners. While home prices are still falling, the figures released Monday were another sign the housing market is finally bouncing back. Earlier this month, the government reported that new home construction rose to the highest level since last fall. And data out last week showed home resales rose almost 4 percent in June, the third straight monthly increase.

- GENEVA (Reuters) – There may be no escape from H1N1 pandemic flu, which according to the latest World Health Organization figures has spread to the most remote parts of the planet including popular island getaways. In a snapshot published on Monday, the WHO said more than 20 countries and overseas territories had had their first lab-confirmed cases of the new virus, widely known as swine flu.

- WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal regulators on Monday made permanent an emergency rule aimed at reducing abusive short-selling, put in at the height of last fall's market turmoil.
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it took the action on the rule targeting so-called "naked" short-selling, which was due to expire Friday.
Short-sellers bet against a stock. They generally borrow a company's shares, sell them, and then buy them when the stock falls and return them to the lender -- pocketing the difference in price.
"Naked" short-selling occurs when sellers don't even borrow the shares before selling them, and then look to cover positions sometime after the sale.

- WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama, opening two days of high-level talks with China, said the discussions could lay the groundwork for a new era of "sustained cooperation, not confrontation" in a relationship likely to shape the 21st century.
Obama said that Washington and Beijing needed to forge closer ties to address a host of challenges from lifting the global economy out of a deep recession to nuclear proliferation and global climate change. "I believe that we are poised to make steady progress on some of the most important issues of our times," the president told diplomats from both countries assembled in the vast hall of the Ronald Reagan Building.

- COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Oil prices on Monday paused in their two-week rally, as stock markets dipped with mixed signals on the economy. Benchmark crude for September delivery lost 5 cents to $68 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Friday, the contract rose 89 cents to settle at $68.05. Oil has rebounded from $58.78 a barrel earlier this month as stronger economic results from the U.S. and China boosted investor optimism along with better than expected second-quarter results from many companies. The Dow Jones industrial average has risen about 11 percent during the last 10 days, but was down slightly in Monday midday trading. The government said Monday that new U.S. home sales jumped 11 percent in June, the largest amount in nearly nine years. Sales have risen for three straight months, but the median sales price of $206,200 was down 12 percent from $234,300 a year earlier.

Here we go - Some light at the end of the tunnel

NEW YORK (AP) -- The Dow Jones industrials are back above 9,000 for the first time since the beginning of January. Investors snapped up stocks across the market Thursday, sending major indexes up more than 2 percent, after a report showed existing home sales jumped for the third straight month in June. The 3.6-percent increase in home sales has investors excited that the hard-hit housing market might be improving. The National Association of Realtors said sales came in at 4.89 million, above the 4.84 million analysts had been expecting.

- DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) -- Helped by a lightened debt load, Ford Motor Co. posted a surprise second-quarter profit of $2.3 billion Thursday, following the worst loss in company history a year earlier. Shares rose 10 percent in afternoon trading. The net profit ends a string of four straight quarterly losses for the nation's second-largest automaker, which has gained U.S. market share at the expense of crosstown rivals Chrysler Group LLC and General Motors Co., both of which spent time under bankruptcy court supervision. Ford last went into the black in the first quarter of 2008, with net profit of $70 million. However, excluding its debt reduction and other items, Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford would have reported a quarterly loss, though smaller than Wall Street expected.

- WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. housing market has started to recover from the most far-reaching crisis since the Great Depression, data released Thursday show. Sales of previously occupied homes rose for the third month in a row in June, the National Association of Realtors reported. That hasn't happened since early 2004, during the boom. "The turnaround in the housing market appears finally to be here and indeed may be gaining some speed," wrote Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors Inc.

- NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices were pulled higher Thursday by a rally on Wall Street and a rise in home sales that suggested the U.S. may soon regain its appetite for energy.
Benchmark crude for September delivery added $1.15 to $66.54 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent prices rose $1 to $68.21 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. Oil prices lifted in morning trading as the Dow Jones industrial average rose above 9,000 mark. The last time the blue chips closed above that was on Jan. 6. Investors also cheered a National Association of Realtors report that said sales of previously occupied homes rose for the third month in a row. The last time that happened was in the middle of the housing boom in early 2004.

Where do we go from here?

We might be making a run here.
I think we are on the verge of a run. I just want to hang tough and make right decisions.
I got little good news over the last week.
We will see the closure this week.
Life is not bad after all.
CEMJQ is not moving. I am surprised that FNM is sticking around the $ .59 mark.

I am hoping for something big from TPUT and VSTN. I just hope that i am right on these stocks.
Again, It's very hard to predict what is going to happen in the next month.



NEW YORK (AP) -- Investors are betting that the stock market has restarted its spring rally. Stocks ended little changed Friday but held onto an enormous gain for the week. Investors are looking to another flood of corporate earnings reports next week to provide more signs that the economy is healing.
The Dow Jones industrials and the Standard & Poor's 500 index posted their best weekly performance since early March, when the market's spring rally began. Major stock indexes rose about 7 percent for the week.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Construction of new U.S. homes rose in June to the highest level in seven months as builders rushed to pour foundations for homes that must be completed by the end of November for first-time buyers to take advantage of a special tax break. The Commerce Department said Friday that construction of new homes and apartments jumped 3.6 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 582,000 units, from an upwardly revised rate of 562,000 in May. It was better than the 530,000-unit pace economists expected, and was the second straight monthly increase after April's record low of 479,000 units.

- CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Bank of America joined other major banks in reporting better-than-expected second quarter income Friday, earning $2.42 billion even as losses from failed loans continued to rise. The results, which included $713 million of dividend payments tied to a federal bailout, compared with profits after preferred dividends of $3.22 billion in the same three-month period a year ago. Earnings per share, which reflected a much higher amount of shares outstanding, fell to 33 cents from 72 cents. That was well ahead of the 28 cents per share forecast of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

- JAKARTA, Indonesia – Suicide bombers posing as guests attacked American luxury hotels in Indonesia's capital and set off a pair of blasts Friday that killed eight people and wounded more than 50, authorities said.
The bombings, which came two minutes apart, ended a four-year lull in terror attacks in the world's most populous Muslim nation. At least eight Americans were among the wounded.
The blasts at the high-rise J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels, located side-by-side in an upscale business district in Jakarta, blew out windows and scattered debris and glass across the street, kicking up a thick plume of smoke. An Associated Press reporter saw bodies being carried away in police trucks. The attackers evaded hotel security, smuggling explosives into the Marriott and assembling the bombs in a room on the 18th floor, where an undetonated device was found after the explosions. The bombers had stayed at the hotel for two days and set off the blasts in restaurants at both hotels.

- WASHINGTON (AP) -- Unemployment topped 10 percent in 15 states and the District of Columbia last month, according to federal data released Friday. The rate in Michigan surpassed 15 percent, the first time any state hit that mark since 1984.
The Federal Reserve this week projected that the national unemployment rate, currently at a 26-year high of 9.5 percent, will pass 10 percent by the end of the year. Most Fed policymakers said it could take "five or six years" for the economy and the labor market to get back on a path of long-term health. To get there, consumers must return to a regular spending groove and housing prices need to start rising again. Home to America's struggling auto makers, Michigan has been clobbered by lost factory jobs. Its jobless rate of 15.2 percent in June was the highest in the U.S.

- NEW YORK (AP) -- Investors extended Wall Street's rally Monday on more upbeat earnings and reports that commercial lender CIT Group has a deal with key bondholders that will help it avoid bankruptcy. Major indexes rose about 0.5 percent in early trading Monday, and both the Dow Jones industrials and the Standard & Poor's 500 index briefly surpassed multimonth highs hit in mid-June. The CIT news helped stoke the market's newfound optimism that was fed last week by a string of good earnings news. The Dow and the S&P 500 are coming off their best weekly performance since the market's spring rally began in March.

- NEW YORK (AP) -- More plans to build homes, higher stock prices and fewer people filing first-time claims jobless aid sent a private-sector forecast of U.S. economic activity higher than expected in June. It was the third straight monthly increase for the New York-based Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators, and another sign pointing toward the recession ending later this year. The index rose 0.7 percent last month. Wall Street analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a gain of 0.4 percent.

- In his final act at the home of cricket, Andrew Flintoff broke England's 75-year Lord's curse with his first five-wicket haul since the Ashes-clinching Oval Test of 2005. It was, unquestionably, a performance that will enhance his already mythical status within English cricket, but more pertinently for now, delivered England to a 1-0 series lead heading into Edgbaston. Victory was sealed 17 minutes before lunch when Graeme Swann, another major contributor on Monday, pegged back Mitchell Johnson's middle stump with the Australian total at 406. The wicket prompted scenes of jubilation not witnessed at Lord's in decades, and a collective furrowing of brows in the Australian dressing rooms as the series momentum shifted sharply in the hosts' favour.