First, a historical note…US equities have just come off their best July since 1989. Overall, the market is up over 8% for the year. But if we look backward (after all, hindsight is 20/20), March 1989 also saw a huge run up. It was followed by an even stronger rally in July, during which volume dried up. It appears the same is happening now. What came next in 1989 was a big sell-off in September, followed by an even greater one in October.

IMF Predicts Global “Great Recession”; United Tech. Cuts 11,600 Jobs; Brazil Economy Grows 1.3% in 4Q; Malaysia Adds $16 Billion to Stimulus; GM to Sell Half of Opel; Big Corporate Bankruptcies Surge in 2009; Hedge Funds to Slash 20,000 Jobs; SEC Will Bring Back Uptick Rule

The only reports on the calendar this week are housing related, and it got me thinking: what’s left? Pretty much nothing. As the fairy tale goes, the big bad wolf doesn’t even need to huff and puff; the house has already been blown down.

Lynn Carpenter says pension fund deficits could be a major threat to dividend payments. Legislation forces companies to keep private pension plans well funded, meaning some will have to raise large sums of cash at short notice. Lynn picks 9 firms that could soon be forced into making big dividend cuts.

Gloomy Beige Book Report; Weak August for Autos; Layoffs at GMAC; Fraud Charges for Former Credit Suisse Brokers; Factory Orders Rise; Staples Profit Squeezed; United Technologies Lands $80m Jet Deal; Liberty Spins Off DirectTV

Charles Devalle says: “Just when you thought things were at their worst, now investors are worrying about the election. Obama wants to pull troops from Iraq, which would mean less defense spending. McCain isn’t in a hurry to pull troops out, which means a continuation of defense spending.”

It’s one of the biggest product-development programs in Asia right now, and it could easily determine whether Japan remains a global industrial powerhouse – or limps into the future as an international has been.

Although the earnings season officially kicked off last week with Alcoa reporting first quarter earnings, the real fun starts this week with seven Dow components reporting.