Foreword

"Last Week" is an examination of the week that was in the financial markets, in an effort to help assess the prospects for the week(s) that willbe.

Summary

Because of the long weekend here in the United States, leading into a four-day trading week ahead, I'm going to keep this edition of "Last Week" purposelybrief.

There were certain aspects of the year's first half that I think will prove accurately telltale for the financial markets during the balance of the year. For instance, I suspect the lackluster performance of the stock market is aportent of materially worse performance ahead.

On the other hand, the on-balance behavior of interest rates and the dollar during 2005's first six months may be quite different from what is in storefor those markets in the months ahead.

Something else that appears festering for a turn or two for the worse in the period ahead is the geopolitical landscape. I can easily foresee coming problems in US-China relations, and the situation in Iraq clearly is not conforming well to domestic political pressures that will surely begin to increasingly manifest themselves as next year's midterm election draws closer. Continue to Gillespie Research for the balance of the essay: http://www.gillespieresearch.com/cgi-bin/s/article/id=594