Welcome to Friday - one more trading day before the weekend, folks!

This week’s market news was a real mixed bag. On the good side: in July new U.S. home sales hit their highest level in 10 months – not that the last 10 months set the bar very high.

On the not-so-good side, the White House Budget Office reported the U.S. deficit ballooned to $1.7 trillion this year and will reach $9 trillion over the next decade. OUCH.

…and somewhere in the middle, Bernanke got re-appointed to a second term as Fed chief. That’s a lot of headlines for the last slow week of August.

Not that August has slowed down the latest crop of headliners on the TradeKing Leaderboard. Say hello to Dallsbeep, jmcash, and xBEARSx among others. Nice trading, folks!

Glad to see our buddy UPod back on the Trader Network after a new-baby pause. UPod shared this WSJ op-ed from Charles Schwab – what’s your view?

Over in the forums, these folks debate volatility’s impact on stocks and options. If you haven’t already, check out Brian Overby’s volatility series on exactly this topic.

Last but not least, I got a big kick out of this thread of favorite quotations. What’s yours?

[image: Under the Stars and Moons on a Rainy Day by fauxto_digit on Flickr]

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