Don't hold it against her that she missed a spot while washing her face. Have a good weekend, guys.

Stocks to Watch

Early movers this morning. This screenshot is posted every weekday morning at around 9:15 ET.

Keep an Eye on TXU

The coil scanner picked up TXU. TXU is a holding company which has big natural gas operations. You can see the same kind of coils in Amerada Hess (AHC) and Unocal (UCL), so these pauses at multi-year highs are happening in many energy sector stocks.

TXU, 30-min. Chart

ETF Winners and Losers

People who like to look at relatively down and out sectors would be interested in B2B (BHH), Internet Infrastructure (IIH), Networking (IGN), and Semiconductors (SMH). Relative outperformers of late are Basic Materials (XLB), Energy (XLE), Natural Resources (IGE), and Oil Service (OIH). It pays to be aware of relative performance.

Taking the Long View -- Gold

Taking a long view of gold... you can see that it broke the down channel back in 2003 right around the time of the invasion of Iraq. This was not a coincidence... the disastrous decision to get ourselves embroiled in a permanent war in the Mideast unfortunately marked a new era of decline for the US Dollar (which I noted at the time, I thank you).

The smart money diversified into non-US assets (some of us even moved abroad) and we continue to hold a significant amount of precious metals.

Gold, Yearly Chart

Bury Some Pandas

Mining executives disagree on state of gold market, by Steve James:

This is why it's a good idea to bury some pandas in your backyard.

Gracias

Thanks for linking to me, Fallond.

Certainly Wrong

I watched the debate... it wasn't a blowout one way or the other, but I thought Kerry came out a bit better. Bush did what he does best -- kept it simple (for fellow simpletons). He also used the words "vociferously" and "denigrate," which startled me, lol. Kerry's best line: "You can be certain and be wrong."

Grant Sees Bear Market in Bonds (Yet Again)

Happy Anniversary, Mr. Market, by Jim Grant (Forbes has got to stop sticking text advertisements in the body of the column... it's too disruptive. Get a clue, you fools!)

Not so fast, Jim!

Unusual Suspects

You can find yesterday's Unusual Suspects on the Unusual Suspects page. This is the last day that I'll type in the data... so the Unusual Suspects won't be "searchable" in the future.