• A Gentleman’s C complains about grouchy professors.
• RateYourStudents discusses the inevitable in academia: return to the classroom and blogging.
• Financial rounds has some interesting posts, one about trading options around take-overs, courtesy of Wall Street Journal, and the joys of academic research. I am more than happy to work with you using that database — man, 200 companies with corporate governance info; I call that Bearls and Means heaven.
• Brad DeLong has an interesting classroom related post on economic growth.  What is really cool, though, is the use of Google’s GapMinder application.  Wow, that’s a cool way to make statistics palatable.

That’s all for today.

• The Capital Spectator looks at the prospects for a “soft landing” for the economy as well as the confusing haze (mirage ?) of economic forecasting.
  
• Econbrowser takes a look at the inverted state of the yield curve and what that means for the prospects of a recession.
• Gary Becker and Richard Posner look at the economics of stem-cell research.
• voluntaryXchange lists the questions Mike Wallace should have asked Ahmadinejad. BTW, Ahmadinejad rather long and frightfully rambling blog can be enjoyed in English as well.
• DJIA fell 36.42 points to 11345.05 Monday following last week’s five-day run, hurt by rising oil prices and Lowe’s profit warning. Gold prices rose more than $10 an ounce. Friendster is receiving $10 million from investors hoping to revive the social-networking firm.
• The Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday filed a civil suit in an effort to freeze the assets of a group of New Yorkers accused of selling at least $1.6 million of fraudulent investments to at least 64 unsuspecting investors, many of them elderly.
• Wells Fargo said it would buy Barrington Associates, a Los Angeles-based boutique investment banking firm. Wells Fargo, which is based in San Francisco, said Barrington would keep its name and become the lender’s main unit handling middle-market megers and acquisitions.
• Interesting article at Marketwatch advises you how to spot a Fund Manager that is not being forthcoming as to his performance. According to Chuck Jaffe, too many fund managers “get it wrong when they get things wrong.” If their money-management mistakes lead to poor excuses, or indifference, oroverreactions — then you may have a bigger problem than an underperfomring fund — you have a bum manager.
• Intuit announced that their special committee had reached the end of its examination of the firm’s stock option accounting practices. Their examination covered the period from Aug. 1, 1997 to the present. Their conclusion: the coast is clear. No issues found. No restatement required.

• Stocks rose. On the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday, 2,513 stocks advanced and 782 declined on volume of 1.2 billion shares.
• Bonds advanced. The 10-year note rose 13/32, or $4.06 for every $1,000 invested, to yield 4.885% Wednesday, and the 30-year note was up 21/32 to yield 5.006%.
• The dollar weakened. The euro was at $1.2852 from $1.2785 late Tuesday, while the dollar was at 115.79 yen from 116.10 yen.

The lower reading on consumer inflation raised hopes that the Federal Reserve’s rate-lifting campaign has ended; the DJIA had climbed to within 81 points of its all-time high. The Labor Department’s consumer price index increased by 0.4% in July, up from a 0.2% increase in June. This is in line with analyst expectations. The less volatile core CPI grew 0.2% last month. Thus, without the influence of volatile food and energy, the core CPI grew below expectations. On a yearly basis, the core CPI is up 2.7%. Additionally, the wholesale inflation also showed moderating inflation pressures.

The housing prices show signs of some well-needed moderation.
Just a couple of interesting blogs…

• Greg Mankiw enters into the ongoing debate between Jeremy Siegel and John Bogle on passive investing in NYT. The core point is Siegel’s recently advanced idea of fundamental investing – creating indexes that reflect fundamental or value directed valuation ratios, capitalizing on systematic mispricing in the markets and the inability of active managers to reap value. Mankiw sides with Bogle. And it is easy to see why from an efficient market perspective.
• In his blog Barry Ritholtz looks at the uses and abuses of inflation data. But most importantly, he sees as many on Wall Street, the ugly head of stagflation. With slower consumer inflation, negative producer price inflation, relatively high interest rates, weaker GDP numbers, value decline in housing stocks and volume decline in housing starts, as well as somewhat weaker consumer data. It is easy to see why.
• On the happiness front, there is a small piece on Money and Happiness in the Wall Street Journal. My point is that I would rather cry 0n the backseat of a Bentley than a Hyundai.

Miscellaneous links …

• Best blog right now – seeking alpha.
• Sen. Santorum who has recently turned green, is gaining on Casey. According to the Quinnipiac poll, the tactic works.
• Swann trailing in campaign for Pennsylvania’s governorship. Another possible (rather likely) win for the Edster.
• In other PA political news, Hazleton, PA, faces a lawsuit. Recently, mayor Lou Barletta and Hazelton council members passed a controversial legistlation that was to punish those who hire or rent to illegal immigrants. Landlords would be fined $1000 per illegal immigrant. This act also made the English the town’s official language. This is a sad infringement on civil liberties. I do not support any sides of the current illegal immigration debate. Any legislation on any level attempting to change the status quo would make the situation worse – nothing Pareto optimal here. What worries me is that other communities across the United States have requested information on this proposal for use in their own municipalities
• The debate on what colleges do for a living continues. I am a strong believer in the objective certification model of eduction, an approach recently suggested by the federal Commission on the Future of Higher Education. Already and unexpectedly, there is some tension brewing. There is a crisis in higher education and the sooner we solve it, the better for the students.
• Should I jump on the Allen – Macaca, Katherine Harris, or the Liberdammung bandwagon?
• Is Keith Olberman onto something?
• Reading Granma International’s English language feed offers a different perspective on the Cuban life. According to Hugo Chavez, Fidel is more like a brother than a friend.
• When will Ahmadinejad blog in English? Al-Jazera already does it and their cartoons can be entertaining – sometimes.
• From youtube another hilarious clip.

For general information about the class, you find the syllabus at http://financialblog.files.wordpress.com/2006/08/20060801-f06-370-syllabus.pdf

Many of you want to find a cheap textbook for the course.  If you want to order the book before the semester from an online book-seller, the textbook we will use is Higgins’ Analysis for Financial Management, 8th ed.
http://financialblog.wordpress.com/2006/07/27/textbook-selection/

You will find the best prices for the book at
http://isbn.nu/007325858X

Apart from the textbook, you will also need a financial calculator and a set of cases as well. You will find the best prices for the calculator at
http://www.mysimon.com/9000-11036_8-0.html?mlpid=20656339

Unfortunately, you can buy the cases only at the bookstore.

The first day of class is Aug 23rd, when I also tell you about the class and other aspects that the syllabus and the information that you can gather do not cover.  Also, at our first meeting, you will receive a comprehensive set of lecture notes for the semester.