Business - Investor's Business Daily

Honesty: Lawmakers voted on the stimulus and global warming bills without having read either. Eventually they'll vote on health care legislation that could fund unrelated items. Time to end this systemic fraud.

1 Stocks were mostly lower amid weaker consumer sentiment and a Chevron warning. The Dow and S&P 500 fell 0.4% and the NYSE composite 0.7%. But the Nasdaq gained 0.2%. Volume was lower across the board. The 10-year Treasury yield tumbled 13 ticks to 3.29%, back near the lowest levels since late May.

Blake Curd fears that Congress and industry lobbyists are using medical insurance reform to go after physician-owned hospitals.

Brazil's recession may be short-lived, but a lot will depend on China and commodity prices.

Logan Int'l Airport is trying out a specialized radar system to bolster efforts to prevent collisions between birds and planes. Jan.'s splash-landing in the Hudson River by a US Airways plane that hit a flock of geese highlighted the dangers of bird-plane collisions. The new radar system can automatically alert air traffic controllers when flocks of birds are entering landing and takeoff corridors. In such a scenario, controllers could help pilots steer aircraft clear of areas congested with feathered fliers.

Pres. Obama and Pope Benedict XVI agreed on helping the poor, but politely disagreed on the issues of curbing abortion and stem cell research during their first meeting at the Vatican on Fri. The 30-minute meeting, which Obama called "very productive," also covered immigration, the Middle East peace process and Obama's G-8 summit meetings.

The Obama administration is working on a plan to tap the $700 billion banking bailout package to aid millions of small businesses to try to preserve jobs, according to multiple press reports late Fri., citing sources. The plan would expand a Small Business Administration lending program that helps firms borrow cheaply to stay afloat. The plan would mark a major shift from TARP's original mandate.

The Economic Cycle Research Institute's leading U.S. index rose 1.1 points in the week ended July 3 to 118.5 -- the highest since last Oct. -- on lower-than-expected jobless claims and better housing activity. The index's annualized growth rate jumped 1.5 percentage points to a 2-year high of 5.4%. "It is increasingly evident that, despite widespread misgivings based on backward-looking economic data, the end of recession is at hand," said ECRI Managing Director Lakshman Achuthan in a statement.

Peet's Coffee And Tea (NasdaqGS:PEET - News) shook out investors who bought at the "right" time.

Just because everyone is doing it, doesn't necessarily make it the right thing to do.