Weekend Linkage – March 1, 2009

Market Recap

As I mentioned yesterday, February turned out to be a very bad month for stocks. In the last week of the month, stocks retreated to below the November 2008 lows. For the week, the Dow dropped 4.11% to 7062.93, the S&P 500 tumbled 4.54% to 735.09, and the Nasdaq declined 4.40% to 1377.84. Precious metals also posted a losing week after reaching one-year high the week before. Gold ended the week with a 5.76% decline to $941.60 an ounce while sliver plunged 9.37% to $13.11/ounce. Crude oil, on the other hand, surged 14.95% to $44.76 a barrel.

Weekend Readings

• The Pursuit of Wealth for the Sake of Others @ Brip Blap
• Find Investment Opportunities In Any Business Market Environment! Ride The Economic Recovery @ The Digerati Life
• Recession-Proof Your Debt Snowball @ Frugal Dad
• Three Investing Lessons Learned the Hard Way @ Lazy Man and Money
• The Frugal Dog – The Cost of Dog Ownership @ Million Dollar Journey
• Job Search: Find a Job With a New Degree, Certification, Or License @ Money Smart Life
• Get Out of Emotional Debt @ My Dollar Plan
• Busting Cashback Tiers with Mint’s $1 Coin Direct Ship Program @ Bargaineering
• Five Ways to Downsize Your Lifestyle @ Free Money Finance
• Get-rich-quick schemes are great! @ Mighty Bargain Hunter
• At Least 25 Lazy Portfolios You Can Use @ The Dividend Guy
• Using Google Calendar To Pay Bills On Time @ Free From Broke

Carnivals

• The Carnival of Debt Reduction – Quotable Quotes Edition @ Hey, Mister, Can You Spare A Dime?
• Festival of Frugality #166 – The Winter Is Almost Over Edition @ Student Scrooge
• 129th Edition of the Festival of Stocks @ Fat Pitch Financials
• Carnival of Personal Finance #193: YouTube Edition @ Broke Grad Student
• Money Hacks Carnival: Bailout Edition @ Personal Finance Ology
• Money Hackers Carnival #52 @ OMB! @ One Million Bucks