Weekly financial media scan

Here are the most interesting financial market articles, comments and videos for the week.

We'll start with some negatives:

The guru outlook: George Soros says market at risk of downturn

October 28, 2009 by TPC

Although Soros has turned more bullish over the course of the last 6 months he has not lost sight of the forest for the trees. Much like Jeremy Grantham, Soros believes we are confronted with massive structural long-term problems – particularly in the United States. He believes U.S. consumers are in the middle of a long-term deleveraging process and earlier this month he described the U.S. banking system as “bankrupt”. He sees very weak consumer spending and a drag from the banking sector holding down global growth for years to come. Read more...

Roubini: Global Markets Could Crash Soon

By Dan Weil, Oct 28, 2009

The global markets are at risk of crashing when the dollar rebounds, says economist Nouriel Roubini. Roubini, a professor at NYU, is credited with long predicting the financial collapse of 2007 and 2008.

“In the short run what’s happening is there’s a wall of liquidity, not just in the U.S., but around the world, that is chasing assets,” he told CNBC.

“It’s equities, it’s commodities, it’s credit, it’s gold, it’s emerging market asset classes.” Read more...

But it's not that bad:

Ahead of the Bell: Leading economic indicators

(AP), Oct 23

NEW YORK — The Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators likely rose 0.8 percent last month, according to Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters. The index, which is meant to project economic activity in the next three to six months, climbed 0.6 percent in August.

The Conference Board forecasts economic activity by measuring current jobless aid claims, stock prices, consumer expectations, building permits for private homes, the money supply and other data. Read more...

Fueled by stimulus, U.S. economy grows

By Jeannine Avers, Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Fueled by government stimulus money, the U.S. economy grew during the summer for the first time in more than a year. The question now is, can the recovery last? Read more...

Then again......

U.S. Economy: Consumer Spending, Confidence Fall on Job Worries

By Timothy R. Homan and Courtney Schlisserman

Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Americans cut spending for the first time in five months and a gauge of confidence weakened, signaling consumers will make a limited contribution to the recovery without government incentives. Read more...

So the negatives do seem to overweigh and the stock market fell accordingly.