U.S. stocks positioned for weekly losses and monthly gains

Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2008 17:04:20 -0400
U.S. stocks positioned for weekly losses and monthly gains

U.S. stocks decline Friday, with the indexes poised for monthly gains
and weekly losses, with a July drop in personal income, a rise in oil
prices and a worse quarter than forecast for Dell supporting a bearish
view ahead of the long weekend.

Gustav strengthens into Category 1 hurricane

Gustav regains hurricane strength Friday afternoon as it sets its sights
on the Cayman Islands and traders eye the storm's projected path toward
the Gulf of Mexico.

Futures Movers: Oil, natural-gas futures close lower on storm
uncertainty

Crude and natural-gas futures close lower for the session and the month,
but both finish the week with a slight gain as traders gauged Hurricane
Gustav's potential to damage energy infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico
during the holiday weekend.

The Ratings Game: Analyst sticks with Lehman buy rating

One of the more candid analysts tracking Wall Street is sticking with
his buy rating on Lehman Brothers, saying the firm will either tackle
the challenges it confronts, or face a hostile takeover.

Dell's quality of sales called into question over price cuts

With a combination of cost cuts and expansion into retail and consumer
markets, Dell Inc. has been carefully working on turning its business
around after several years of disappointing performance. But on Friday,
the PC maker learned just how thin its margin of error was.