...After Labor Day Weekend

-- Despite surging gas prices and concern about Hurricane Katrina's impact
on the economy, the Dow Jones Industrial Average could managed to
gain 0.5% the past week, closing at 10,447 -- which is a healthy sign for
the stock market.

--In London October-dated futures of Brent crude oil fell to $64.68 a
barrel from $66.02 on Friday, as the International Energy Agency said
late Friday that it's going to make available 2 million barrels a day of oil
for at least 30 days. The price of oil seems to have reached a short-term
peak and may remain contained in a range $60-65 in the near term. If
it approaches or go below $60, stock market may get a near-term boost.

-- There is a wide-spread speculation in the market that the havoc caused
by the killer storm plus the rising oil price might influence the Federal
Reserve to halt its campaign to raise U.S. interest rates. This may lead
to near term fall in mortgage rate and another breather for the already
hot housing market. If that happens and if more people start taking risk
in buying costly homes or extracting money in the form of home equity
loan, another long-term problem in US economy may start brewing soon.