NTC SPECIAL REPORT: RALLYENDS WITH DOW OVER 9,000

LOSSES FOR MICROSOFT HALT
WALL STREET'S 12-DAY SURGE
FOX BUSINESS: Wall Street had an amazing run this week, but the rally stalled on Friday. The Nasdaq Composite was up 12 days in a row before retreating today and the Dow plowed through the 9,000 mark for the first time since January this week. Microsoft shares plunged in heavy trading after the company reported its first drop in annual sales since the company went public in the early 1980s . . . READ MORE

ANALYST: TECH SECTOR WORRIES
CNN/MONEY: Timothy Ghriskey of Solaris Asset Management said that Microsoft raises worries about the ability of technology to continue leading the market. "Technology has been one of the strongest sections of the market year to date and in the recent run," he said . . . READ MORE

IS DOW 'OVERVALUED'?
FORTUNE: Since their lows on March 9, the Dow has climbed 37% while the S&P 500 has gained 43%. Strategists say losses may come in the next two months as stocks fall back to normal valuations. The average stock in the S&P 500 trades at 17 times earnings compared to 13.5 just three months ago. "The Dow has come very far and very fast," says Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer of Johnson Illington Advisors, who oversees more than $1.5 billion in assets. "On a short-term basis it is somewhat overvalued" . . . READ MORE

ROUBINI SEES 'PERFECT STORM'
BLOOMBERG: The global economy may fall back into a recession by late 2010 or 2011 because of rising government debt, higher oil prices and a lack of job growth, said Nouriel Roubini, the New York University economist who predicted the credit crisis. A "perfect storm" of fiscal deficits, rising bond yields, "soaring" oil prices, weak profits and a stagnant labor market could "blow the recovering world economy back into a double-dip recession," he wrote in a research note today. "It is getting more likely unless a clear exit strategy from the massive monetary and fiscal stimulus is outlined even before it is implemented" . . . READ MORE

CONSUMER CONFIDENCE FALLS
BLOOMBERG: Confidence among U.S. consumers fell in July for the first time in five months as mounting unemployment and stagnant wages shook households . . . The biggest employment slump of any recession in the last eight decades is making Americans less secure, which is likely to restrain spending . . . READ MORE

GALLUP: 48% RATE ECONOMY 'POOR'

UNEMPLOYMENT 'STANDSTILL':
MILLIONS WAIT FOR BENEFITS
NY DAILY NEWS: As the unemployment rate continues to rise and jobless benefit checks become more crucial than ever, the nation's unemployment system is reaching a standstill. Millions of unemployed Americans have been waiting for months for decisions about their unemployment benefits, while thousands have been waiting for actual checks . . . State and federal unemployment systems are facing rock-bottom funding, forcing states to distribute benefit checks with money they do not have . . . READ MORE

• MICHIGAN UNEMPLOYMENT 15.2%
• ATLANTA UNEMPLOYMENT 10.7%
• FLORIDA UNEMPLOYMENT 10.6%

SIX GEORGIA BANKS SEIZED;
REAL-ESTATE SLUMP BLAMED
AP/ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: Regulators on Friday shut six banks in Georgia and a small bank in New York state, raising to 64 the number of federally insured banks to fail this year . . . With the latest closings, 16 Georgia banks have failed this year, more than in any other state. Most of the failures have involved banks in the Atlanta area, where the collapse of the real estate market brought economic dislocation . . . READ MORE

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE
PUTS PRESSURE ON BANKS
FORTUNE: Regional banks can no longer ignore the elephant in the room -- their exposure to the commercial real estate bust . . . analysts expect credit problems over the next year to center on commercial real estate -- mortgages on office and apartment buildings and shopping malls, as well as construction, development and industrial loans. U.S. banks hold some $1.8 trillion worth of commercial loans, according to Federal Reserve data . . . With financing markets locked up and the economy still mired in recession -- unemployment is at a 26-year high while capacity utilization, a key measure of industrial production, recently hit a record low -- observers fear a wave of loans will go bad in coming quarters . . . READ MORE

CATO COMMENTARY
BERNANKE MUST GO
MARK A. CALABRIA: If his hearings this week before the House and Senate made one thing clear, it is that Fed chairman Ben Bernanke has lost the confidence of Congress, and likely also that of the American public.Were Bernanke's only problem a loss of congressional confidence, he could overcome it. However, the erosion of public trust in the Fed has been the result of a long string of policy failures, which have overshadowed the few successes . . . READ MORE

HERITAGE COMMENTARY
MINIMUM WAGE HIKE HURTS
REP. PETE OLSON (R-TEXAS): When the three-phase minimum wage increase was initially signed into law in May 2007, the unemployment rate was 4.5%, and when the first phase went into place, the unemployment rate was 4.6%. Today it stands at 9.5%. At a time of record deficits, uncertainty of increased taxes, the looming prospect of government takeover of the healthcare system, and a national energy tax, small businesses simply cannot afford this final wage increase . . . READ MORE

NEW LEDGER COMMENTARY
OBAMA LIES ABOUT ECONOMY
FRANCIS CIANFRACCO: Throwing numbers around as the President does is dangerous because of seasonal adjustments and noise in the data. But however you slice and dice the data, I don’t see the case for implying that the unemployment picture is improving. We’ve lost over 2 million jobs since Obama took power. It’s possible that the rate of job losses has slowed . . . but there’s not a shred of evidence that hiring is picking up across the economy. . . . READ MORE