Weekend Linkage – July 23, 2008

Summary of the week

The stock markets now always go one step forward and two step back. Last week is another volatile week for stocks as major indexes fell for the sixth week in a row. One big news last week was that, Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddic Mac (FRE) (I did buy a few shares of FRE), two of the nation’s largest mortgage providers, may need a government bailout to survive the mortgage crisis. For the week, The S&P 500 fell 1.9% to 1,239.49, the Dow average dropped 1.7% to 11,100.54, and the NSADAQ lost 0.28% to 2,239.08. Now both the Dow and the S&P are officially in the bear market. A the same time, crude oil price continued to climb higher, reaching $147.27 barrel on Thursday after tensions increased between Israel and Iran over Iran’s nuclear program. On Friday, crude oil settle at $145.08/barrel, losing 0.14% for the week. The decline of the U.S. dollar also boosted demands for commodities such as oil and precious metals to hedge against the falling dollar. Euro gained 1.47% against the dollar to $1.5924 and gold jumped 2.93% to end the week at $958.85 an ounce.

Weekend readings

Here are some end-of-the-holiday readings from The Money Writers:

4 Quick Steps to Building Wealth: Brip Blap shares his open secret of wealth building.

WaMu Free Checking: The High 3.3% APY May Be Worth A Look: The Digerati Life discusses WaMu’s popular product, but it’s not as good as the 4.76% APY from EverBank from the interest rate point of view.

From the Front Lines: Investors Selling Stocks in Favor of Fixed Accounts: Generation X Finance looks into investors behaviors in this turbulent market.

Credit Cards as a Money Tool: Lazy Man and Money looks into what you can do with credit cards.

Risk Management via Insurance – Critical Illness Insurance: Million Dollar Journey continues the using insurance as risk management tool discussion.

Best Travel & Hotel Rewards Credit Cards: My Dollar Plan lists the best credit cards for you to earn rewards from travel and hotel usage.

Blockbuster Total Access – Free Trial Plus Cashback Promotion: Money Smart Life tells you how to watch free movies and get paid for doing it.