Wall Street's bulls are still running but they are no thundering herd heading into Thursday's market, which promises to be ruled by the economic data du jour, and the rise and fall of the price of a barrel of oil.    Read More

There are two really outstanding things about the Charlie Rose show, which is an essential stop on any author's book tour. One is Charlie himself, who is an outstanding interviewer. He asks sophisticated questions and gives guests time to answer.   Read More

Here are some interesting stories I'm reading this morning: Recession? Not So Fast, Say Some - Wall Street Journal--A funny thing happened to the economy on its way to recession: It's taken a detour.    Read More

New data on inflation at the consumer level and oil inventory numbers are two reports that will have a hold on Wednesday's markets.    Read More

Some notable quotes from last night's Kudlow & Company: Overcoming the Obama Effect The only way you overcome the Obama effect is not with atmospherics—he’s going to outdo you on eloquence and that kind of thing. The only way you can do it is with substance.    Read More

I have a confession to make. There's something that, at this moment, i cannot do with out. It's not booze. It's not drugs. It's not french fries. It's the Amazon.com sales rankings for books! That's because I am co-author, with my longtime journalistic colleague Jerry Seib, of the new book "Pennsylvania Avenue: Profiles in Backroom Power."    Read More

The latest inflation number for the UK economy is punchy. The analysts were looking for CPI at a little over 2.5 percent - the annualized figure as delivered is 3 percent. April came in at 0.8 percent. Food and energy prices are making it hard for the Bank of England to cut interest rates. This should be supportive for the British pound. But the market smells blood.   Read More

Whether consumers are willing to open their wallets is a big theme for Tuesday's markets.
First, Wal-mart's quarterly earnings will be reported in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.   Read More

As good as John McCain’s pro-growth, supply-side tax plan is, his cap-and-trade strategy unveiled this morning is very hard for conservatives to swallow. The whole cap-and-trade experience in Europe and elsewhere reveals that this is a huge government command-and-control operation that taxes, spends, and regulates on a grand scale.    Read More

Commodities and energy are likely to stay in the driver's seat Friday. Those were the power groups, and the financials were the weaklings again in Thursday's stock market.    Read More