Tuesday, July 27, 2010
FA...Dow has third straight triple-digit gain on better housing stats, new FedEx forecast
Stephen Bernard, AP Business Writer, On Monday July 26, 2010, 5:46 pm EDT
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Dow Jones industrial average gained more than 100 points for the third straight day Monday after investors got some unexpected good news about the economy.
A report on the housing market came in better than investors anticipated. And shipping giant FedEx Corp. released a forecast that was more upbeat than the prediction it made just six weeks ago.
The news pulled stocks out of a slow start and sent the Dow up 100 points by the close for a three-day gain of 405. Investors who a week ago were selling on a pessimistic view of companies' earnings and the economy are now buying on the belief that the economic recovery, while slow, is proceeding.
The Dow has now closed higher in 12 of 17 trading days this month. Its latest advance means the average is up 7.7 percent in July after falling 10 percent from April through June on a stream of bad economic news. The Dow is also up 0.9 percent for the year. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index is still in the negative for 2010, but barely. It's down less than 0.01 percent.
Trading volume was light Monday, a sign that investors might be a little cautious despite the advance. Many are likely waiting for hundreds of earnings reports to be released this week before they make any major investing decisions.
But FedEx gave investors reason to buy when it said its overnight and ground delivery businesses are doing better than expected, and that it expects a moderate global economic recovery. That was heartening news for investors because the shipping giant, which carries packages for businesses and consumers, is considered a barometer for how the economy is doing.
The shipping company raised its earnings forecast for the three months that will end Aug. 31. It said it expects to earn between $1.05 and $1.25 per share, up from its previous estimate of 85 cents to $1.05 per share.
Six weeks ago, investors were disappointed by FedEx's forecast.
"FedEx tells you a lot about overall manufacturing in the country," said Russ Koesterich a managing director at the money manager BlackRock Inc. "The positive release tells investors the recovery is bumpy but is still on pace."
Shortly after trading began, the Commerce Department said new home sales rebounded from a record low in May to an annual rate of 330,000 units, more than economists expected. The gain came after sales hit a record low annual rate of 267,000 in May. The report showed that the housing market might be weathering the severe slump that began with the expiration of a homebuyer's tax credit at the end of April.
Sales are still down 72 percent from their peak annual rate of 1.39 million in July 2005. Last year, sales plunged to a rate of 375,000 last year. So June's number was still weak, but investors were relieved that it wasn't worse.
"It tells investors that the housing market is not melting down again," Koesterich said. "One of the big fears is that as government stimulus is taken away there is going to be another housing meltdown -- that doesn't appear to the case."
Homebuilders stocks rose on the news. D.R. Horton Inc., Lennar Corp. and Toll Bros. Inc. rose more than 2 percent after the report.
The Dow rose 100.81, or 1 percent, to 10,525.43. Only one of the Dow's 30 stocks fell. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. fell 54 cents, or 1 percent, to $51.13.
The S&P 500 index rose 12.35, or 1.1 percent, to 1,115.01. Analysts said stocks were helped Monday by the fact that S&P 500 stayed above 1,100, an important psychological level. When the index didn't give back its gains, more investors were encouraged to buy.
The Nasdaq composite index rose 26.96, or 1.2 percent, to 2,296.43.
About four stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1 billion shares.
Bond prices were narrowly mixed. The yield on the 10-year note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 2.99 percent from 3 percent late Friday. That yield helps set interest rates on mortgages and other consumer loans.
Stocks have rallied in recent days as more companies reported strong second-quarter earnings and revenue and raised their outlooks for the coming quarters.
"There's been too much negativism priced in and we're coming off that," said Brian Gendreau, market strategist at Financial Network Investment Corp. "Earnings reports are definitely helping."
D.R. Horton rose 32 cents, or 3 percent, to $11.17. Lennar rose 49 cents, or 3.3 percent, to $15.42, while Toll Bros. rose 42 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $17.82.
FedEx gained $4.43, or 5.6 percent, to $83.39. Rival shipper UPS Inc. rose $1.21, or 1.9 percent, to $64.88.
European markets rose slightly as investors had their first chance to react to a series of tests that assessed the health of the continent's big banks. Regulators said only seven of the 91 banks tested would struggle if the European economy and government debt problems worsened.
Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.7 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 0.5 percent, and France's CAC-40 gained 0.8 percent. Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.8 percent.
(This version CORRECTS Corrects Dow change for month, corrects March to April in 4th graf. Will be led. This story is part of AP's general news and financial services.)
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Dow Jones industrial average gained more than 100 points for the third straight day Monday after investors got some unexpected good news about the economy.
A report on the housing market came in better than investors anticipated. And shipping giant FedEx Corp. released a forecast that was more upbeat than the prediction it made just six weeks ago.
The news pulled stocks out of a slow start and sent the Dow up 100 points by the close for a three-day gain of 405. Investors who a week ago were selling on a pessimistic view of companies' earnings and the economy are now buying on the belief that the economic recovery, while slow, is proceeding.
The Dow has now closed higher in 12 of 17 trading days this month. Its latest advance means the average is up 7.7 percent in July after falling 10 percent from April through June on a stream of bad economic news. The Dow is also up 0.9 percent for the year. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index is still in the negative for 2010, but barely. It's down less than 0.01 percent.
Trading volume was light Monday, a sign that investors might be a little cautious despite the advance. Many are likely waiting for hundreds of earnings reports to be released this week before they make any major investing decisions.
But FedEx gave investors reason to buy when it said its overnight and ground delivery businesses are doing better than expected, and that it expects a moderate global economic recovery. That was heartening news for investors because the shipping giant, which carries packages for businesses and consumers, is considered a barometer for how the economy is doing.
The shipping company raised its earnings forecast for the three months that will end Aug. 31. It said it expects to earn between $1.05 and $1.25 per share, up from its previous estimate of 85 cents to $1.05 per share.
Six weeks ago, investors were disappointed by FedEx's forecast.
"FedEx tells you a lot about overall manufacturing in the country," said Russ Koesterich a managing director at the money manager BlackRock Inc. "The positive release tells investors the recovery is bumpy but is still on pace."
Shortly after trading began, the Commerce Department said new home sales rebounded from a record low in May to an annual rate of 330,000 units, more than economists expected. The gain came after sales hit a record low annual rate of 267,000 in May. The report showed that the housing market might be weathering the severe slump that began with the expiration of a homebuyer's tax credit at the end of April.
Sales are still down 72 percent from their peak annual rate of 1.39 million in July 2005. Last year, sales plunged to a rate of 375,000 last year. So June's number was still weak, but investors were relieved that it wasn't worse.
"It tells investors that the housing market is not melting down again," Koesterich said. "One of the big fears is that as government stimulus is taken away there is going to be another housing meltdown -- that doesn't appear to the case."
Homebuilders stocks rose on the news. D.R. Horton Inc., Lennar Corp. and Toll Bros. Inc. rose more than 2 percent after the report.
The Dow rose 100.81, or 1 percent, to 10,525.43. Only one of the Dow's 30 stocks fell. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. fell 54 cents, or 1 percent, to $51.13.
The S&P 500 index rose 12.35, or 1.1 percent, to 1,115.01. Analysts said stocks were helped Monday by the fact that S&P 500 stayed above 1,100, an important psychological level. When the index didn't give back its gains, more investors were encouraged to buy.
The Nasdaq composite index rose 26.96, or 1.2 percent, to 2,296.43.
About four stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1 billion shares.
Bond prices were narrowly mixed. The yield on the 10-year note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 2.99 percent from 3 percent late Friday. That yield helps set interest rates on mortgages and other consumer loans.
Stocks have rallied in recent days as more companies reported strong second-quarter earnings and revenue and raised their outlooks for the coming quarters.
"There's been too much negativism priced in and we're coming off that," said Brian Gendreau, market strategist at Financial Network Investment Corp. "Earnings reports are definitely helping."
D.R. Horton rose 32 cents, or 3 percent, to $11.17. Lennar rose 49 cents, or 3.3 percent, to $15.42, while Toll Bros. rose 42 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $17.82.
FedEx gained $4.43, or 5.6 percent, to $83.39. Rival shipper UPS Inc. rose $1.21, or 1.9 percent, to $64.88.
European markets rose slightly as investors had their first chance to react to a series of tests that assessed the health of the continent's big banks. Regulators said only seven of the 91 banks tested would struggle if the European economy and government debt problems worsened.
Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.7 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 0.5 percent, and France's CAC-40 gained 0.8 percent. Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.8 percent.
(This version CORRECTS Corrects Dow change for month, corrects March to April in 4th graf. Will be led. This story is part of AP's general news and financial services.)
Monday, July 26, 2010
Talk to People Rather than about Them
John Piper
Recall that in Luke 18:9, Luke introduces the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector like this: "He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt." It may seem minor at first, but notice that it says that Jesus told this parable TO some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous. It does not say he spoke this parable ABOUT them. Jesus was looking the Pharisees in the eye and telling them a parable that implied that they were self-righteous. He was not talking about them but to them.
Though it may seem minor, it contains a lesson that is huge for the health of our church. Let's be like this. Let's not talk to others about people's faults. Let's talk to them about their faults. It is easy - and far too tasty on the tongue of our sinful souls - to talk about people. But it is hard - and often tastes bitter - to talk to them. When you are talking about them, they can't correct you or turn the tables and make you the problem. But if you talk to them about a problem, it can be very painful. So it feels safer to talk about people rather than talking to them.
But Jesus does not call us to make safe choices. He calls us to make loving choices. In the short run, love is often more painful than self-protecting conflict-avoidance. But in the long run, our consciences condemn us for this easy path and we do little good for others. So let's be more like Jesus in this case and not talk about people, but talk to them, both with words of encouragement, because of the evidences of grace we see in their lives, and with words of caution or warning or correction or even rebuke. Paul urged us to use the full range of words for the full range of needs: "Admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all" (1 Thessalonians 5:14).
I don't mean you can't criticize President Bush without calling him on the phone first. And I don't mean you can't discuss my sermon, both negatively and positively, without coming to me. Public figures put themselves on the line and understand that everyone will have an opinion about what they say. That's okay. What I mean is when you know a brother or a sister is in the grip of some sinful attitude or behavior, take the log out of your eye, and then go to them and try to help them with humble biblical counsel.
Perhaps tell them a parable. That's what Jesus did in Luke 18:9-14. And it's what Nathan did for David, after his sin with Bathsheba and toward Uriah (2 Samuel 12:1-4). But you don't have to be that creative. Caring about the person you confront matters more than creativity.
My longing for our church is that we be free from gossip. Let's be forthright and honest and courageous and humble. Jesus was amazingly blunt at times. Love sometimes sounds like that. He could have easily been accused of callousness or lovelessness. But we know he was the most loving person who ever lived. So let's follow him in this matter. He died for us so that all the logs and specks in our eyes may be forgiven. That should give us both courage and care in dealing with others. Especially when we realize that the faults of our brothers and sisters have also been forgiven by Jesus.
What an amazing standing place we have for relationships. A forgiven, justified, Spirit-indwelt community of people who love to grow in grace. Thank you for loving to trust and follow Jesus in the way of talking to each other rather than about each other.
Pastor John
By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: www.desiringGod.org. Email: mail@desiringGod.org. Toll Free: 1.888.346.4700.
Recall that in Luke 18:9, Luke introduces the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector like this: "He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt." It may seem minor at first, but notice that it says that Jesus told this parable TO some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous. It does not say he spoke this parable ABOUT them. Jesus was looking the Pharisees in the eye and telling them a parable that implied that they were self-righteous. He was not talking about them but to them.
Though it may seem minor, it contains a lesson that is huge for the health of our church. Let's be like this. Let's not talk to others about people's faults. Let's talk to them about their faults. It is easy - and far too tasty on the tongue of our sinful souls - to talk about people. But it is hard - and often tastes bitter - to talk to them. When you are talking about them, they can't correct you or turn the tables and make you the problem. But if you talk to them about a problem, it can be very painful. So it feels safer to talk about people rather than talking to them.
But Jesus does not call us to make safe choices. He calls us to make loving choices. In the short run, love is often more painful than self-protecting conflict-avoidance. But in the long run, our consciences condemn us for this easy path and we do little good for others. So let's be more like Jesus in this case and not talk about people, but talk to them, both with words of encouragement, because of the evidences of grace we see in their lives, and with words of caution or warning or correction or even rebuke. Paul urged us to use the full range of words for the full range of needs: "Admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all" (1 Thessalonians 5:14).
I don't mean you can't criticize President Bush without calling him on the phone first. And I don't mean you can't discuss my sermon, both negatively and positively, without coming to me. Public figures put themselves on the line and understand that everyone will have an opinion about what they say. That's okay. What I mean is when you know a brother or a sister is in the grip of some sinful attitude or behavior, take the log out of your eye, and then go to them and try to help them with humble biblical counsel.
Perhaps tell them a parable. That's what Jesus did in Luke 18:9-14. And it's what Nathan did for David, after his sin with Bathsheba and toward Uriah (2 Samuel 12:1-4). But you don't have to be that creative. Caring about the person you confront matters more than creativity.
My longing for our church is that we be free from gossip. Let's be forthright and honest and courageous and humble. Jesus was amazingly blunt at times. Love sometimes sounds like that. He could have easily been accused of callousness or lovelessness. But we know he was the most loving person who ever lived. So let's follow him in this matter. He died for us so that all the logs and specks in our eyes may be forgiven. That should give us both courage and care in dealing with others. Especially when we realize that the faults of our brothers and sisters have also been forgiven by Jesus.
What an amazing standing place we have for relationships. A forgiven, justified, Spirit-indwelt community of people who love to grow in grace. Thank you for loving to trust and follow Jesus in the way of talking to each other rather than about each other.
Pastor John
By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: www.desiringGod.org. Email: mail@desiringGod.org. Toll Free: 1.888.346.4700.
The Gift of Forgiveness
Colossians 3:12-17
Webster defines gift as "something given to show friendship, affection, support." Using this definition, it seems
logical to give gifts only to those we love, not to those who hurt or abuse us. Yet Scripture clearly commands us to offer one of the greatest possible gifts—forgiveness—to those who mistreat us.
To forgive means "to give up all claims to punish or exact a penalty for an offense." No strings or conditions can be attached, or else it ceases to be a pardon. Ephesians 2:8-9 expands on this concept by contrasting the gift of salvation with works. Neither salvation nor forgiveness can be earned; both must be freely given. Just as God granted us forgiveness, which we did not deserve and could not earn, so we are to release every offender from any form of penalty.
Unforgiveness is emotional bondage that consumes minds with memories of offenses, distorts emotions with revenge, and fills hearts with churning unrest. Its tentacles reach deep into the soul, affecting both spiritual and physical health. But the one who chooses to put on love and offer forgiveness is ready to receive the peace of Christ. Let God's Word help you release hurt and anger into His caring hands—then watch as vengeful thoughts are transformed into praise and gratitude to the Lord.
Thankfully, the gift of pardon is not something we have to manufacture in ourselves. This present is wrapped in the love of God and tied with the red ribbon of Christ's sacrifice. It is freely given to us by the Savior, and our job is simply to pass it on to others.
For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
Webster defines gift as "something given to show friendship, affection, support." Using this definition, it seems
logical to give gifts only to those we love, not to those who hurt or abuse us. Yet Scripture clearly commands us to offer one of the greatest possible gifts—forgiveness—to those who mistreat us.
To forgive means "to give up all claims to punish or exact a penalty for an offense." No strings or conditions can be attached, or else it ceases to be a pardon. Ephesians 2:8-9 expands on this concept by contrasting the gift of salvation with works. Neither salvation nor forgiveness can be earned; both must be freely given. Just as God granted us forgiveness, which we did not deserve and could not earn, so we are to release every offender from any form of penalty.
Unforgiveness is emotional bondage that consumes minds with memories of offenses, distorts emotions with revenge, and fills hearts with churning unrest. Its tentacles reach deep into the soul, affecting both spiritual and physical health. But the one who chooses to put on love and offer forgiveness is ready to receive the peace of Christ. Let God's Word help you release hurt and anger into His caring hands—then watch as vengeful thoughts are transformed into praise and gratitude to the Lord.
Thankfully, the gift of pardon is not something we have to manufacture in ourselves. This present is wrapped in the love of God and tied with the red ribbon of Christ's sacrifice. It is freely given to us by the Savior, and our job is simply to pass it on to others.
For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
Say "Yes" to Sales
Get over the hackneyed images of used-car and time-share salespeople, Jones counsels. Nothing happens until somebody sells something, and if you are not proud of whatever it is your company sells, no one else will be proud of it either. The fact is, great wealth requires great sales skills. “While I may have gone to med school to become a doctor, I graduated a salesperson,” says Dr. Tom Frist, who founded the Hospital Corporation of America.
“Selling the concept of better healthcare for all has been my mission, my passion, and my wealth-creation mechanism.”
All great salespeople know, often intuitively, that having a high emotional quotient is far more important to success than having a high IQ. Highly developed people skills, often huge personalities, and persuasive natures. Enhancing your own “emotional” quotient is simple: Just become a good listener.
“Knock long enough and the door opens,” says former Clemson linebacker and communications entrepreneur Leighton Cubbage. “And once you’re through that door, treat your clients like kings and queens.”
“Selling the concept of better healthcare for all has been my mission, my passion, and my wealth-creation mechanism.”
All great salespeople know, often intuitively, that having a high emotional quotient is far more important to success than having a high IQ. Highly developed people skills, often huge personalities, and persuasive natures. Enhancing your own “emotional” quotient is simple: Just become a good listener.
“Knock long enough and the door opens,” says former Clemson linebacker and communications entrepreneur Leighton Cubbage. “And once you’re through that door, treat your clients like kings and queens.”
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
FA...Stocks rally after strong earnings reports and encouraging signs of growth in Europe
Stephen Bernard, AP Business Writer, On Thursday July 22, 2010, 5:50 pm EDT
NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks had their biggest rally in two weeks Thursday as earnings and economic reports reassured investors that the recovery, while uncertain, is continuing.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 201 points after second-quarter earnings from Caterpillar Inc., UPS Inc. and other companies beat analysts' forecasts. A better than expected report on housing and encouraging signs of growth in Europe added to the upbeat mood.
But investors might be ready to sell again when trading resumes Friday. After the close of regular trading, Amazon.com Inc. issued a report that fell short of expectations. Its stock fell almost 14 percent in after-hours trading. If the market gives back gains Friday, it would follow its pattern of falling on disappointments in what so far has been a mixed earnings season.
Microsoft Corp. also released earnings after the close of trading and beat analyst estimates. Its stock fell slightly.
Investors had plenty of reasons to buy on Thursday. Caterpillar said its orders are growing and production will pick up in the second half of the year. UPS raised its outlook because of spending by businesses. Caterpillar's stock rose 1.7 percent, while UPS gained 5.2 percent.
Chris Hobart, founder of Hobart Financial Group in Charlotte, N.C., said the outlooks are especially important because, if companies expect to grow, they'll need to hire again.
If improved forecasts lead to jobs growth, "then this can be better than a good quarter or good second half, (it can mean) we've got a good economy," Hobart said.
A report on the housing market, while still showing a slowdown, was reassuring because it wasn't as bad as investors expected. The National Association of Realtors said sales of previously occupied homes fell to an annual rate of 5.37 million in June from 5.66 million a month earlier. Economists forecast the sales rate to fall to 5.18 million.
The Dow rose 201.77, or 2 percent, to 10,322.30. That was the Dow's biggest advance since it rose 274 points on July 7.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 24.08, or 2.3 percent, to 1,093.67, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 58.56, or 2.7 percent, to 2,245.89.
Only 397 stocks fell on the New York Stock Exchange, while 2,675 rose. Consolidated volume came to 4.9 billion shares, up from 4.8 billion on Wednesday.
Traders largely wrote off a jump in the number of people seeking unemployment benefits for the first time. The increase was likely skewed by seasonal factors. Instead, investors focused on earnings from a broad range of companies that showed businesses aren't seeing a slowdown in the recovery. News of corporate deals also lifted shares.
Meanwhile, European markets rose after a report showed unexpected growth in the 16-nation group that uses the euro. In recent months, investors worldwide have been concerned that rising government debt in Europe would stall a global recovery. A jump in Europe's purchasing managers index Thursday was a relief after forecasts of a possible recession on the continent.
The economic reports out of Europe were "a big surprise because everyone expects that to be the Achilles heel of the global economy," said Anthony Chan, chief economist at J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Management in New York.
Problems in Europe set off the big drop in stocks in late April. As Greece struggled to make debt payments and ratings agencies downgraded the government debt of several companies, stocks plunged in the U.S. on fears that the domestic recovery was in jeopardy. Stocks then fell further as U.S. economic reports showed that the recovery was at best bumpy. Some investors feared a "double dip," or the economy falling back into recession.
Overseas, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 1.9 percent, Germany's DAX index gained 2.5 percent and France's CAC-40 rose 3.1 percent. In Japan, where trading ends before it begins in the U.S., the Nikkei stock average fell 0.6 percent.
Bond prices dipped as investors jumped back into stocks. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 2.94 percent from 2.88 percent late Wednesday.
The market's gains Thursday came a day after investors sold stocks because Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned Congress that the economy remains fragile. Bernanke confirmed investors' fears that the best scenario for the economy is only slow growth and relatively high unemployment. Bernanke testified again before Congress on Thursday, but his comments had little impact on trading.
Guy LeBas, chief fixed income strategist of Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia said there are two groups in the market fighting back and forth, which has led to the volatility. One believes the economy is going to fall back into recession, while the other thinks this is just a pause in a strong rebound.
"There's no middle ground," LeBas said. As a result, he said, each group will pounce on news that backs up their claims and send the market sharply higher or lower. "We are absolutely hypersensitive to what we're seeing."
Amazon, which rose $2.64, or 2.3 percent, to $120.07 in regular trading, slid $16.57, or 13.8 percent, after hours. Microsoft, which rose 72 cents, or 2.9 percent in regular trading, to $25.84, slipped 8 cents in after-hours activity.
UPS jumped $3.14, or 5.2 percent, to $63.15. Caterpillar rose $1.13, or 1.7 percent, to $68.
Homebuilders stocks rose in response to the home sales report. Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. rose 15 cents, or 3.8 percent, to $4.07. KB Home rose 41 cents, or 3.9 percent, to $11.06.
The Labor Department said weekly claims for jobless benefits jumped by 37,000 to 464,000. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters expected claims to rise to 445,000 last week. The big jump comes after a big drop a couple of weeks ago when companies like GM reported fewer temporary layoffs than usual for the time of year. Even with the distorted numbers, high unemployment remains of the biggest obstacles to a strong, sustained recovery.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks had their biggest rally in two weeks Thursday as earnings and economic reports reassured investors that the recovery, while uncertain, is continuing.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 201 points after second-quarter earnings from Caterpillar Inc., UPS Inc. and other companies beat analysts' forecasts. A better than expected report on housing and encouraging signs of growth in Europe added to the upbeat mood.
But investors might be ready to sell again when trading resumes Friday. After the close of regular trading, Amazon.com Inc. issued a report that fell short of expectations. Its stock fell almost 14 percent in after-hours trading. If the market gives back gains Friday, it would follow its pattern of falling on disappointments in what so far has been a mixed earnings season.
Microsoft Corp. also released earnings after the close of trading and beat analyst estimates. Its stock fell slightly.
Investors had plenty of reasons to buy on Thursday. Caterpillar said its orders are growing and production will pick up in the second half of the year. UPS raised its outlook because of spending by businesses. Caterpillar's stock rose 1.7 percent, while UPS gained 5.2 percent.
Chris Hobart, founder of Hobart Financial Group in Charlotte, N.C., said the outlooks are especially important because, if companies expect to grow, they'll need to hire again.
If improved forecasts lead to jobs growth, "then this can be better than a good quarter or good second half, (it can mean) we've got a good economy," Hobart said.
A report on the housing market, while still showing a slowdown, was reassuring because it wasn't as bad as investors expected. The National Association of Realtors said sales of previously occupied homes fell to an annual rate of 5.37 million in June from 5.66 million a month earlier. Economists forecast the sales rate to fall to 5.18 million.
The Dow rose 201.77, or 2 percent, to 10,322.30. That was the Dow's biggest advance since it rose 274 points on July 7.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 24.08, or 2.3 percent, to 1,093.67, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 58.56, or 2.7 percent, to 2,245.89.
Only 397 stocks fell on the New York Stock Exchange, while 2,675 rose. Consolidated volume came to 4.9 billion shares, up from 4.8 billion on Wednesday.
Traders largely wrote off a jump in the number of people seeking unemployment benefits for the first time. The increase was likely skewed by seasonal factors. Instead, investors focused on earnings from a broad range of companies that showed businesses aren't seeing a slowdown in the recovery. News of corporate deals also lifted shares.
Meanwhile, European markets rose after a report showed unexpected growth in the 16-nation group that uses the euro. In recent months, investors worldwide have been concerned that rising government debt in Europe would stall a global recovery. A jump in Europe's purchasing managers index Thursday was a relief after forecasts of a possible recession on the continent.
The economic reports out of Europe were "a big surprise because everyone expects that to be the Achilles heel of the global economy," said Anthony Chan, chief economist at J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Management in New York.
Problems in Europe set off the big drop in stocks in late April. As Greece struggled to make debt payments and ratings agencies downgraded the government debt of several companies, stocks plunged in the U.S. on fears that the domestic recovery was in jeopardy. Stocks then fell further as U.S. economic reports showed that the recovery was at best bumpy. Some investors feared a "double dip," or the economy falling back into recession.
Overseas, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 1.9 percent, Germany's DAX index gained 2.5 percent and France's CAC-40 rose 3.1 percent. In Japan, where trading ends before it begins in the U.S., the Nikkei stock average fell 0.6 percent.
Bond prices dipped as investors jumped back into stocks. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 2.94 percent from 2.88 percent late Wednesday.
The market's gains Thursday came a day after investors sold stocks because Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned Congress that the economy remains fragile. Bernanke confirmed investors' fears that the best scenario for the economy is only slow growth and relatively high unemployment. Bernanke testified again before Congress on Thursday, but his comments had little impact on trading.
Guy LeBas, chief fixed income strategist of Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia said there are two groups in the market fighting back and forth, which has led to the volatility. One believes the economy is going to fall back into recession, while the other thinks this is just a pause in a strong rebound.
"There's no middle ground," LeBas said. As a result, he said, each group will pounce on news that backs up their claims and send the market sharply higher or lower. "We are absolutely hypersensitive to what we're seeing."
Amazon, which rose $2.64, or 2.3 percent, to $120.07 in regular trading, slid $16.57, or 13.8 percent, after hours. Microsoft, which rose 72 cents, or 2.9 percent in regular trading, to $25.84, slipped 8 cents in after-hours activity.
UPS jumped $3.14, or 5.2 percent, to $63.15. Caterpillar rose $1.13, or 1.7 percent, to $68.
Homebuilders stocks rose in response to the home sales report. Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. rose 15 cents, or 3.8 percent, to $4.07. KB Home rose 41 cents, or 3.9 percent, to $11.06.
The Labor Department said weekly claims for jobless benefits jumped by 37,000 to 464,000. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters expected claims to rise to 445,000 last week. The big jump comes after a big drop a couple of weeks ago when companies like GM reported fewer temporary layoffs than usual for the time of year. Even with the distorted numbers, high unemployment remains of the biggest obstacles to a strong, sustained recovery.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
King of the Micro Trading Survey - 2nd place
微型賬戶之王交易大賽調查
1. How long have you been trading?
您進行交易有多久？
模拟练习一年，实盘交易3年。
After a year’s demo practicing, I have conducted live trading for three years.
2. How did you start trading?
您如何開始進行交易？
开始只是猎奇，后来逐渐被低成本高收益，省时省心，公平公正的交易特点所吸引，走上外汇交易之路。
At first I did it only out of curiosity. Then I was gradually attracted by its trading characteristics, such as low cost, a high payout, time and effort saving, and fairness, and so traded in forex.
3. What are your favorite sources for news and/or your favorite technical indicators?
您最喜歡的新聞資料來源及／或最喜歡的技術指標是甚麼？
报刊，电视，互联网等公众传播媒体。
技术面分析我做的不多，侧重MA均线。
Public media like newspaper, TV and the Internet.
I seldom carry out technical analysis, and prefer moving average.
4. What pair do you prefer to trade?
您偏好買賣哪些貨幣對？
欧元，澳元，英镑等直盘较喜欢。
I like majors like EUR, AUD, and GBP etc.
5. How long do you typically hold your trades?
您一般會持有交易多久？
一到两天或十几天不等。
Ranging from one to two days to more than 10 days.
1
6. How much time do you spend trading every day?
您每日會花多少時間進行交易？
平均两到三小时。
Two to three hours in average.
7. What was your most successful or memorable trade, and what was your most unsuccessful trade?
您最成功或最值得紀念的交易是甚麼，及您最失敗的交易是甚麼？
80K的英镑多单是我本月的最大收益。之后的欧元短线较为失败。
The 80K longing GBP brought me the most profits this month. The subsequent short-term trade in EUR was a failure.
8. What do you think your greatest weakness is as a trader?
作為交易者，您認為自己的最大弱點是甚麼？
在资金风险控制和短线把握上需加强。
I need to enhance capital risk control and short-term trading.
9. What one thing did you do or learn that pushed you over the top?
您做過或學過甚麼以致您能登上高峰？
或许是性格决定命运，心态决定成败。盈利及时止赢，亏损果断出场。
Perhaps one’s fate is determined by his personality. Success or failure lies in one’s mindset. One needs to take profits timely and exit a trade decisively when a loss is incurred.
10. What kind of personality do you think you need to trade forex successfully?
您認為要買賣外匯成功，要擁有哪種個性？
冲动是魔鬼，入场需镇定。
Impulse is a devil. One needs to enter the market calmly.
11. What do you think about forex vs. equities? Have you traded equities? Why do you trade forex?
若外匯與股票相比，您有何看法？您有買賣過股票嗎？您為何會買賣外匯？
2
股票我曾浅尝即止。外汇交易优势不言而喻，方向多样化，买卖随时随地，信息全球即时公布，这些正是我所需要的。
I have briefly traded in stocks. The advantages of forex trading are apparent. Multi-directional, trade anytime and anywhere, and simultaneous release of information across the globe - these are what I need.
12. How has trading changed your life?
外匯交易如何改變您的生活？
无论做什么，当成功向你靠近，再苦再累也乐在其中。
Irrespective of what you are doing, when you approach success, you enjoy the process, even though it is hard and tiring.
13. What advice would you give to a new trader?
您會給予交易新手甚麼意見？
一夜暴富只是神话，脚踏实地才能久远。
Turning oneself into an overnight millionaire is a myth. Only pragmatism will last.
King of the Micro Trading Survey - Winner -June 2010
1. How long have you been trading?
I have been trading now for almost 20 months.
2. How did you start trading?
I was not too happy of my day job and one day I was talking to my co-worker regarding
currency trading. At first, I was considering of stocks trading then I heard the of the great
opportunities currency trading has to offer plus the great and easy to use platform that is
available for me to use it become an easy choice for me and I never look back.
3. What are your favorite sources for news and/or your favorite technical indicators?
When I first started trading, I did not know much of the technical indicators. I am greatly
relying on the technical analysis DailyFx have provided me. Then I learned to read and
analyze chart formation and Fibonacci which gives me quality trades. I also read current
both Political and Economical News as well as FOREX news which is now also available
with DailyFX. I also use Trends (like my friend used to say, Trend is your best friend until
it bends).
4. What pair do you prefer to trade?
When I first started I use to trade EUR/USD then I found GBP/USD and GBP/JPY suits
my style and strategy better, so I switched.
5. How long do you typically hold your trades?
Minutes, Hours, Days and sometime weeks…it all depends on my entries status (I
usually keep my losing trades a little bit longer until I make some profit on it). It is the
reason why I like currency trading, I can open and close my trades whenever I want
seven days a week.
How much time do you spend trading every day?
When I first started I used to spend almost 6 hours straight no sleep because I use to
have short trades but now I probably learned to place good trades and be more patient I
have limited my trading hours to 4 to 6 hrs with sleep or I will not trade at all for one day
and make it up for the following day.
6. What was your most successful or memorable trade, and what was your most
unsuccessful trade?
It was the year 2009, the month of January, when the U.S. was going through a transfer
of presidential power. I have mostly EUR/USD; all my trades against the U.S. were
successful. I have started with US$1000 and brought it to almost US$20,000 giving my
very first Micro King title. And my most unsuccessful trade happened the following
month, I kept buying EUR and in the matter of days all that funds I have where all gone
giving my first margin call.
2
7. What do you think your greatest weakness is as a trader?
I still do not have enough patience, I usually jump to a trade even though it is not there for
me because I feel that I missing out a good trade. I also have a tendency of closing
winning trades so soon and let my losing trade run, hoping it will be a winning trade.
8. What one thing did you do or learn that pushed you over the top?
Not giving up, being more patient and staying calm. I have to think that what I have not
accomplished before have given me time to reevaluate myself and be more focus.
Sometimes you have to lose to win; losing cannot be a failure but rather a stepping
stone to learn and to not forget the things that you do wrong.
9. What kind of personality do you think you need to trade forex successfully?
My friend use to tell me that you can have all sorts of indicators and signals, one thing is
for sure about FOREX trading it goes up and it goes down. Simple as it sounds; if you
have the patient and have your emotions in check you will be successful in FOREX
trading.
What do you think about forex vs. equities? Have you traded equities? Why do you
trade forex?
I have never traded equities before but if I did FOREX will still choice since it does give
me full control of my trades, wherever I want and whenever I want. In FOREX, you can
always limit your losses.
10. How has trading changed your life?
It changed my life for the better. It thought me a lot politically and economically. It gives
me a new beginning and makes me a new person. I have learned my Economics 101
through trading. It makes me understand and makes me more aware of the political and
economic events all over the world that is affecting our lives every day.
11. What advice would you give to a new trader?
Be patient and stay calm. Invest only the amount you can afford to lose. This way, you
will be able to control your emotions, your attachment to your trades and you can’t be too
scared. Forex Trading is very hard to manipulate but one thing is for certain it goes up
and it goes down; so patient my friend and wait for that perfect time.
FA...Stocks fall sharply after Fed Chairman Bernanke warns of 'unusually uncertain' economy
Stephen Bernard and Bernard Condon, AP Business Writers, On Wednesday July 21, 2010, 5:47 pm EDT
NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks fell sharply Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke confirmed investors' fears that the economy has weakened. Interest rates dropped in the Treasury market as investors sought safer places for their money.
Bernanke told a congressional committee that the economy is "unusually uncertain." He said the economy is fragile, but he did not forecast that it would fall back into recession.
The Dow Jones industrial average, which was modestly higher before Bernanke's prepared remarks, fell 109 points as investors absorbed his assessment of the economy, and his statement that the Fed is ready to take action if the economy worsens.
Bernanke's comments, part of his semiannual report to Congress, weren't surprising given the disappointing economic reports and corporate earnings numbers released in recent weeks. But they were enough to upset investors who have grown increasingly nervous about the state of the recovery. Some investors may have been hoping for a more upbeat reading from the Fed chairman.
The Fed is still expecting the economy to expand this year, but the central bank has lowered its forecast for growth.
Oliver Pursche, executive vice president at Gary Goldberg Financial Services, said investors took Bernanke's comments as "not exactly a ra-ra USA type of endorsement."
Craig Peckham, market strategist at Jefferies & Co., said stocks fell not because of anything Bernanke said, but what he didn't say about any plans to stimulate the economy. Although Bernanke said the Fed was "prepared to take further policy actions as needed," he also said, "we are not prepared to take any specific steps in the near term" because the Fed is still evaluating the economy.
Peckham said, "The market expected that we'd see more sign of monetary easing in the testimony. But that didn't happen." Monetary easing would include steps to make credit more available or encourage banks to lend more.
The market fluctuated for much of the day on another mixed batch of earnings reports. John Merrill, chief investment officer of Tanglewood Wealth Management in Houston said the day was like many others recently: Very little news but lots of professional traders reacting to it.
"Bernanke said he wants to collect more data before doing anything, and that's just fine. But traders are impatient. They got a 'buy' button and a 'sell' button and they're going to do do one or the other," Merrill said.
The Dow fell 109.43, or 1.1 percent, to 10,120.53. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 13.89, or 1.3 percent, to 1,069.59. The Nasdaq composite index lost 35.16, or 1.6 percent, and fell to 2,187.33.
Two stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume came to 4.8 billion shares, up from Tuesday's 4.7 billion.
Treasury prices surged and their yields fell as investors sought out the safety of government debt after Bernanke's testimony. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which helps set rates on mortgages and other kinds of loans, fell to 2.88 percent from 2.96 percent late Tuesday.
Investors have been selling stocks since late April on a combination of weak economic indicators and disappointing earnings reports. The Dow, which reached a 2010 high of 11,205.03 on April 26, has fallen 10 percent as investors have seized on any piece of bad news and shrugged off more positive signs about the economy.
In the past few days, companies' revenue figures have become a culprit. Although companies including IBM Corp. and General Electric Co. have beat analysts' second-quarter earnings estimates, their revenue has not met expectations and investors have been selling. The belief in the market is that companies aren't getting the strong sales needed to fuel the economic recovery.
"The numbers aren't bleak but there's no top-line growth, and that's scaring people. There's a realization that the economy is stuck in slow growth for a year or two," said Brian Wenzinger, a portfolio manager at Aronson-Johnson-Ortiz in Philadelphia.
Stocks fell across the market Wednesday. Of the few stocks in the S&P 500 that rose, most were companies that had upbeat earnings news Wednesday or late Tuesday.
Morgan Stanley rose $1.58, or 6.3 percent, to $26.80, after its second-earnings were better than expected. The investment bank weather the stock market's difficult quarter better than some of its competitors. Another banker, Wells Fargo & Co., rose 15 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $26.06, after also surpassing expectations.
Coca-Cola Co. rose 84 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $54.08 after saying its North American soft drink sales stopped falling during the April-June period.
Thursday's earnings reports include some from companies seen as measures of how the overall economy is faring: United Parcel Service Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Caterpillar Inc.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks fell sharply Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke confirmed investors' fears that the economy has weakened. Interest rates dropped in the Treasury market as investors sought safer places for their money.
Bernanke told a congressional committee that the economy is "unusually uncertain." He said the economy is fragile, but he did not forecast that it would fall back into recession.
The Dow Jones industrial average, which was modestly higher before Bernanke's prepared remarks, fell 109 points as investors absorbed his assessment of the economy, and his statement that the Fed is ready to take action if the economy worsens.
Bernanke's comments, part of his semiannual report to Congress, weren't surprising given the disappointing economic reports and corporate earnings numbers released in recent weeks. But they were enough to upset investors who have grown increasingly nervous about the state of the recovery. Some investors may have been hoping for a more upbeat reading from the Fed chairman.
The Fed is still expecting the economy to expand this year, but the central bank has lowered its forecast for growth.
Oliver Pursche, executive vice president at Gary Goldberg Financial Services, said investors took Bernanke's comments as "not exactly a ra-ra USA type of endorsement."
Craig Peckham, market strategist at Jefferies & Co., said stocks fell not because of anything Bernanke said, but what he didn't say about any plans to stimulate the economy. Although Bernanke said the Fed was "prepared to take further policy actions as needed," he also said, "we are not prepared to take any specific steps in the near term" because the Fed is still evaluating the economy.
Peckham said, "The market expected that we'd see more sign of monetary easing in the testimony. But that didn't happen." Monetary easing would include steps to make credit more available or encourage banks to lend more.
The market fluctuated for much of the day on another mixed batch of earnings reports. John Merrill, chief investment officer of Tanglewood Wealth Management in Houston said the day was like many others recently: Very little news but lots of professional traders reacting to it.
"Bernanke said he wants to collect more data before doing anything, and that's just fine. But traders are impatient. They got a 'buy' button and a 'sell' button and they're going to do do one or the other," Merrill said.
The Dow fell 109.43, or 1.1 percent, to 10,120.53. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 13.89, or 1.3 percent, to 1,069.59. The Nasdaq composite index lost 35.16, or 1.6 percent, and fell to 2,187.33.
Two stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume came to 4.8 billion shares, up from Tuesday's 4.7 billion.
Treasury prices surged and their yields fell as investors sought out the safety of government debt after Bernanke's testimony. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which helps set rates on mortgages and other kinds of loans, fell to 2.88 percent from 2.96 percent late Tuesday.
Investors have been selling stocks since late April on a combination of weak economic indicators and disappointing earnings reports. The Dow, which reached a 2010 high of 11,205.03 on April 26, has fallen 10 percent as investors have seized on any piece of bad news and shrugged off more positive signs about the economy.
In the past few days, companies' revenue figures have become a culprit. Although companies including IBM Corp. and General Electric Co. have beat analysts' second-quarter earnings estimates, their revenue has not met expectations and investors have been selling. The belief in the market is that companies aren't getting the strong sales needed to fuel the economic recovery.
"The numbers aren't bleak but there's no top-line growth, and that's scaring people. There's a realization that the economy is stuck in slow growth for a year or two," said Brian Wenzinger, a portfolio manager at Aronson-Johnson-Ortiz in Philadelphia.
Stocks fell across the market Wednesday. Of the few stocks in the S&P 500 that rose, most were companies that had upbeat earnings news Wednesday or late Tuesday.
Morgan Stanley rose $1.58, or 6.3 percent, to $26.80, after its second-earnings were better than expected. The investment bank weather the stock market's difficult quarter better than some of its competitors. Another banker, Wells Fargo & Co., rose 15 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $26.06, after also surpassing expectations.
Coca-Cola Co. rose 84 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $54.08 after saying its North American soft drink sales stopped falling during the April-June period.
Thursday's earnings reports include some from companies seen as measures of how the overall economy is faring: United Parcel Service Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Caterpillar Inc.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
China surpasses US as the world's biggest energy consumer, but immediately rejects title
Jenny Barchfield, Associated Press Writer, On Tuesday July 20, 2010, 5:56 pm
PARIS (AP) -- China is now king of the world in energy consumption, surpassing the U.S. years ahead of forecasts in a milestone that left the Asian giant immediately rejecting its new crown.
Sensitive to its status as the world's biggest polluter, China has long pointed fingers at developed nations in climate change talks and resists any label that could increase international pressure for it to take a larger role in curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
When the Paris-based International Energy Agency released its data on Tuesday, China branded it "unreliable."
The United States still consumes more energy and oil per capita than China. But China's faster-than-expected shift has global consequences for markets and the environment, reflecting its transformation from a nation of subsistence farmers to one of workers increasingly trading their popular bicycles for cars and buying air conditioners and other energy-hungry home electronics.
China was not expected to overtake the U.S. in energy consumption until at least 2015, the U.S. Energy Information Administration forecast in April.
The consumption level, reached despite the global economic downturn, left China in an awkward spot: It is eager to be seen as an economic juggernaut and a major player on the international stage, but also insists it's a developing nation that deserves to industrialize.
Some environmentalists are cautiously optimistic about what China's new status could mean for the planet, pointing out that it has spearheaded research and development into renewable energy. The IEA's chief economist, Fatih Birol, said China is the world's leader in wind and solar power.
China's total 2009 consumption, including energy sources ranging from oil and coal to wind and solar power, was equal to 2.265 billion tons of oil, compared with 2.169 billion tons used by the U.S., the IEA said.
China's energy consumption has more than doubled in less than a decade, from 1.107 billion tons in 2000 -- driven by its burgeoning population and economic growth that hit 11.9 percent in the first quarter of 2010. Per capita, the U.S. still consumes five times more energy than China, Birol said.
The surge in energy consumption has turned China into the biggest source of climate-changing greenhouse gases. The government has pledged to curb the growth in its emissions, but has refused to adopt binding curbs. It has maintained that pollution is an unavoidable consequence of industrialization.
Chinese officials said the country's energy consumption last year was equal to 2.132 billion tons of oil -- or roughly 5 percent less than the IEA figure, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
"IEA's data on China's energy use is unreliable," said official Zhou Xian, adding that the agency did not understand China's efforts to cut energy use and emissions, specifically its new-energy development.
Birol told the AP that the IEA used the same sources and methodology it always has in compiling the 2009 statistics, which he said were in line with the trend for the past decade.
"The trend is undeniable that the Chinese energy consumption is growing very strongly" while use in the U.S., Europe and Japan was stagnating, he said.
Birol emphasized that China's appetite for energy is consistent with the rise in its 1.3 billion-strong population and the growth of its manufacturing-based economy, which churns out half the world's supply of steel and is also a top producer of aluminum -- another fuel-hungry industry.
China, however, is trying to cut its rising reliance on imported oil and gas, which it considers a national security risk, by investing heavily in hydroelectric dams, wind turbines and nuclear power plants. Still, coal, oil and natural gas are expected to account for most of China's energy supplies for decades to come.
According to IEA statistics, more than half of China's total energy in 2009 came from coal, a heavy polluter that accounts for less than a quarter of U.S. consumption. China's coal reserves are among the world's largest but much of that is high-sulfur "brown coal" that produces sulfur dioxide, a component in acid rain, when burned.
Oil -- the No. 1 energy source in the U.S., accounting for nearly half the total -- made up less than a fifth of the Chinese energy total, the IEA said. But that could change as more Chinese trade their bicycles -- historically the country's dominant form of transportation -- for cars.
Last year, China passed the U.S. as the biggest auto market by number of vehicles sold and supplanted Germany as the biggest exporter. Passenger vehicle sales in China jumped from 326,000 in 1995 to 8.7 million in 2009, according to J.D. Power and Associates. That number is expected to soar to 13.5 million vehicles in 2015.
China is going across the world on the hunt for oil. State-owned Chinese energy companies have forged multibillion-dollar deals in Central Asia, Africa and Latin America to secure access to oil and gas supplies. Chinese companies are major players in the postwar reconstruction of Iraq's oil industry.
As it pursues energy sources, the communist government is also in the midst of a five-year campaign to cut the amount of energy consumed for each unit of economic output by 20 percent from 2005 levels. The government said this month it has reached the 16 percent mark after shutting down outmoded power plants, steel mills and other facilities.
It is China's green efforts, such as nationwide renewable energy targets, that has some environmentalists hopeful.
"We have substantive hopes in China, to be honest, that China will take the lead ... to make the low-carbon economy, the high energy efficiency economy a reality in the coming years," said Stephan Singer, the head of energy policy for the WWF environmental group.
"That's not the case in the U.S., unfortunately," he said. "We would need to see similar or even stronger targets there" in the U.S.
Associated Press writer Joe McDonald in Beijing and Chris Kahn in New York contributed to this report.
PARIS (AP) -- China is now king of the world in energy consumption, surpassing the U.S. years ahead of forecasts in a milestone that left the Asian giant immediately rejecting its new crown.
Sensitive to its status as the world's biggest polluter, China has long pointed fingers at developed nations in climate change talks and resists any label that could increase international pressure for it to take a larger role in curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
When the Paris-based International Energy Agency released its data on Tuesday, China branded it "unreliable."
The United States still consumes more energy and oil per capita than China. But China's faster-than-expected shift has global consequences for markets and the environment, reflecting its transformation from a nation of subsistence farmers to one of workers increasingly trading their popular bicycles for cars and buying air conditioners and other energy-hungry home electronics.
China was not expected to overtake the U.S. in energy consumption until at least 2015, the U.S. Energy Information Administration forecast in April.
The consumption level, reached despite the global economic downturn, left China in an awkward spot: It is eager to be seen as an economic juggernaut and a major player on the international stage, but also insists it's a developing nation that deserves to industrialize.
Some environmentalists are cautiously optimistic about what China's new status could mean for the planet, pointing out that it has spearheaded research and development into renewable energy. The IEA's chief economist, Fatih Birol, said China is the world's leader in wind and solar power.
China's total 2009 consumption, including energy sources ranging from oil and coal to wind and solar power, was equal to 2.265 billion tons of oil, compared with 2.169 billion tons used by the U.S., the IEA said.
China's energy consumption has more than doubled in less than a decade, from 1.107 billion tons in 2000 -- driven by its burgeoning population and economic growth that hit 11.9 percent in the first quarter of 2010. Per capita, the U.S. still consumes five times more energy than China, Birol said.
The surge in energy consumption has turned China into the biggest source of climate-changing greenhouse gases. The government has pledged to curb the growth in its emissions, but has refused to adopt binding curbs. It has maintained that pollution is an unavoidable consequence of industrialization.
Chinese officials said the country's energy consumption last year was equal to 2.132 billion tons of oil -- or roughly 5 percent less than the IEA figure, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
"IEA's data on China's energy use is unreliable," said official Zhou Xian, adding that the agency did not understand China's efforts to cut energy use and emissions, specifically its new-energy development.
Birol told the AP that the IEA used the same sources and methodology it always has in compiling the 2009 statistics, which he said were in line with the trend for the past decade.
"The trend is undeniable that the Chinese energy consumption is growing very strongly" while use in the U.S., Europe and Japan was stagnating, he said.
Birol emphasized that China's appetite for energy is consistent with the rise in its 1.3 billion-strong population and the growth of its manufacturing-based economy, which churns out half the world's supply of steel and is also a top producer of aluminum -- another fuel-hungry industry.
China, however, is trying to cut its rising reliance on imported oil and gas, which it considers a national security risk, by investing heavily in hydroelectric dams, wind turbines and nuclear power plants. Still, coal, oil and natural gas are expected to account for most of China's energy supplies for decades to come.
According to IEA statistics, more than half of China's total energy in 2009 came from coal, a heavy polluter that accounts for less than a quarter of U.S. consumption. China's coal reserves are among the world's largest but much of that is high-sulfur "brown coal" that produces sulfur dioxide, a component in acid rain, when burned.
Oil -- the No. 1 energy source in the U.S., accounting for nearly half the total -- made up less than a fifth of the Chinese energy total, the IEA said. But that could change as more Chinese trade their bicycles -- historically the country's dominant form of transportation -- for cars.
Last year, China passed the U.S. as the biggest auto market by number of vehicles sold and supplanted Germany as the biggest exporter. Passenger vehicle sales in China jumped from 326,000 in 1995 to 8.7 million in 2009, according to J.D. Power and Associates. That number is expected to soar to 13.5 million vehicles in 2015.
China is going across the world on the hunt for oil. State-owned Chinese energy companies have forged multibillion-dollar deals in Central Asia, Africa and Latin America to secure access to oil and gas supplies. Chinese companies are major players in the postwar reconstruction of Iraq's oil industry.
As it pursues energy sources, the communist government is also in the midst of a five-year campaign to cut the amount of energy consumed for each unit of economic output by 20 percent from 2005 levels. The government said this month it has reached the 16 percent mark after shutting down outmoded power plants, steel mills and other facilities.
It is China's green efforts, such as nationwide renewable energy targets, that has some environmentalists hopeful.
"We have substantive hopes in China, to be honest, that China will take the lead ... to make the low-carbon economy, the high energy efficiency economy a reality in the coming years," said Stephan Singer, the head of energy policy for the WWF environmental group.
"That's not the case in the U.S., unfortunately," he said. "We would need to see similar or even stronger targets there" in the U.S.
Associated Press writer Joe McDonald in Beijing and Chris Kahn in New York contributed to this report.
FA...Stocks rise as investors sort through mixed earnings; Apple scores but Yahoo falls short
Seth Sutel and Bernard Condon, AP Business Writers, On Tuesday July 20, 2010, 5:44 pm EDT
NEW YORK (AP) -- Investors are trying to get a read on the economy using earnings reports. They're finding it's not so easy.
The result Tuesday was yet another erratic day of stock trading. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 75 points after having fallen 140 in early trading in response to a series of disappointing revenue reports. Analysts were hard-pressed to come up with a reason for the turnaround. But trading was extremely light, and that tends to skew stock prices.
Analysts said some investors were getting a little more upbeat as they awaited earnings reports from Yahoo Inc. and Apple Inc. after the close. But those reports came in mixed, just like those from the many companies that have also reported second-quarter results. Apple's stock surged in after-hours trading, but Yahoo fell. Like IBM Corp., Johnson & Johnson and Goldman Sachs Inc., its revenue fell short of expectations.
Investors have been quick to sell on even a whiff of bad news. Early Tuesday, they were motivated by the reports from IBM, J&J and Goldman. Investors have been focusing on revenue rather than bottom-line earnings because of the link between companies' sales and the economy. If revenue is down because consumers aren't spending, that's a sign that the economy could remain weak.
Investors seem to have decided as Tuesday wore on that earnings didn't look quite as bad as they first thought. Analysts noted that Goldman's drop in revenue was similar to those reported by JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. Their revenue fell not because of a weak economy, but because their customers decided to avoid the financial markets' turbulence during the spring.
Some analysts said there were technical factors involved in the market's moves.
"Investors may have been anticipating the market heading back to early July lows so when it didn't fall apart in early trading, they slowly came back in," said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at RDM Financial Group in Westport, Conn.
Those investors were looking at charts that track the movements of indicators including the Standard & Poor's 500. When the S&P reaches, or doesn't reach, a specific level, that can prompt investors to buy or sell.
It was hard to predict what turn trading might take Wednesday. Yahoo and Apple are considered indicators of the overall economy, but their mixed results weren't giving investors a clear-cut direction for stocks.
The Dow rose 75.53, or 0.7 percent, to 10,229.96. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 12.23, or 1.1 percent, to 1,083.48 and the Nasdaq composite index rose 24.26, or 1.1 percent, to 2,222.49.
Advancing stocks were ahead of losers by 4 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to an extremely light 1.7 billion shares, up from Monday's 4.1 billion.
Treasury prices ended the day little changed, although they rose in early trading as stocks fell as investors opted for safer investments. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, was unchanged from 2.96 percent late Monday.
Tom di Galoma, head of U.S. government bond trading at Guggenheim Partners, commented on the erratic stock trading: "It's a constant tug-of-war we're seeing" as investors try to figure out how much growth potential there is in the economy. Earnings have been mixed, which adds to the muddled picture, he said.
While earnings reports will continue to flow in on Wednesday and beyond, investors are also going to watch closely the next two days as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gives Congress his semi-annual report on the economy.
Sheldon predicted that Bernanke would reaffirm comments made in the minutes of the Fed's June meeting, which were released last week. There, the Fed predicted that the economy will see softer growth in second half of the year.
If Bernanke is able to placate investors and help send stocks higher, it likely will be a temporary blip. The market has quickly shrugged off the chairman's comments in recent months, and focused instead on the latest bad economic or earnings report.
A downbeat report on the housing sector didn't help the market's early bad mood. The Commerce Department said home construction fell last month to the lowest level since October. The drop was mitigated by a 2.1 percent rise in building permit applications, an indicator of future activity.
Yahoo rose 10 cents in regular trading to $15.20, then dropped $1.10, or 7.2 percent, in after-hours trading. Apple rose $6.31 to $251.89 in regular trading, then surged another $7, or 2.8 percent, in extended trading after its results impressed investors.
Johnson & Johnson's revenues came in flat, and below what analysts were expecting. The company said several recalls of popular nonprescription medicines kept its top line in check. J&J's shares, a component of the Dow, fell 99 cents, or 2.7 percent to $58.58.
For some companies, even matching expectations for revenues isn't enough. Late Monday Texas Instruments reported revenues that came in line with estimates, but investors were disappointed that the company didn't report results as robust as come of its competitors. TI's shares slumped 78 cents, or 3 percent, to $24.77.
IBM fell $3.24, or 2.5 percent, to $126.52.
Goldman Sachs' results are being closely watched since investors are concerned about how much banks will be restricted from trading by new financial regulation reform. The bank's net income after paying preferred stock dividends fell 83 percent to $453 million on lower trading revenue and a charge to settle civil fraud charges brought by the government.
Goldman rose $3.23, or 2.2 percent, to $148.91.
Overseas, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.2 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 0.8 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 0.7 percent. Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 1.2 percent.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Investors are trying to get a read on the economy using earnings reports. They're finding it's not so easy.
The result Tuesday was yet another erratic day of stock trading. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 75 points after having fallen 140 in early trading in response to a series of disappointing revenue reports. Analysts were hard-pressed to come up with a reason for the turnaround. But trading was extremely light, and that tends to skew stock prices.
Analysts said some investors were getting a little more upbeat as they awaited earnings reports from Yahoo Inc. and Apple Inc. after the close. But those reports came in mixed, just like those from the many companies that have also reported second-quarter results. Apple's stock surged in after-hours trading, but Yahoo fell. Like IBM Corp., Johnson & Johnson and Goldman Sachs Inc., its revenue fell short of expectations.
Investors have been quick to sell on even a whiff of bad news. Early Tuesday, they were motivated by the reports from IBM, J&J and Goldman. Investors have been focusing on revenue rather than bottom-line earnings because of the link between companies' sales and the economy. If revenue is down because consumers aren't spending, that's a sign that the economy could remain weak.
Investors seem to have decided as Tuesday wore on that earnings didn't look quite as bad as they first thought. Analysts noted that Goldman's drop in revenue was similar to those reported by JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. Their revenue fell not because of a weak economy, but because their customers decided to avoid the financial markets' turbulence during the spring.
Some analysts said there were technical factors involved in the market's moves.
"Investors may have been anticipating the market heading back to early July lows so when it didn't fall apart in early trading, they slowly came back in," said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at RDM Financial Group in Westport, Conn.
Those investors were looking at charts that track the movements of indicators including the Standard & Poor's 500. When the S&P reaches, or doesn't reach, a specific level, that can prompt investors to buy or sell.
It was hard to predict what turn trading might take Wednesday. Yahoo and Apple are considered indicators of the overall economy, but their mixed results weren't giving investors a clear-cut direction for stocks.
The Dow rose 75.53, or 0.7 percent, to 10,229.96. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 12.23, or 1.1 percent, to 1,083.48 and the Nasdaq composite index rose 24.26, or 1.1 percent, to 2,222.49.
Advancing stocks were ahead of losers by 4 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to an extremely light 1.7 billion shares, up from Monday's 4.1 billion.
Treasury prices ended the day little changed, although they rose in early trading as stocks fell as investors opted for safer investments. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, was unchanged from 2.96 percent late Monday.
Tom di Galoma, head of U.S. government bond trading at Guggenheim Partners, commented on the erratic stock trading: "It's a constant tug-of-war we're seeing" as investors try to figure out how much growth potential there is in the economy. Earnings have been mixed, which adds to the muddled picture, he said.
While earnings reports will continue to flow in on Wednesday and beyond, investors are also going to watch closely the next two days as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gives Congress his semi-annual report on the economy.
Sheldon predicted that Bernanke would reaffirm comments made in the minutes of the Fed's June meeting, which were released last week. There, the Fed predicted that the economy will see softer growth in second half of the year.
If Bernanke is able to placate investors and help send stocks higher, it likely will be a temporary blip. The market has quickly shrugged off the chairman's comments in recent months, and focused instead on the latest bad economic or earnings report.
A downbeat report on the housing sector didn't help the market's early bad mood. The Commerce Department said home construction fell last month to the lowest level since October. The drop was mitigated by a 2.1 percent rise in building permit applications, an indicator of future activity.
Yahoo rose 10 cents in regular trading to $15.20, then dropped $1.10, or 7.2 percent, in after-hours trading. Apple rose $6.31 to $251.89 in regular trading, then surged another $7, or 2.8 percent, in extended trading after its results impressed investors.
Johnson & Johnson's revenues came in flat, and below what analysts were expecting. The company said several recalls of popular nonprescription medicines kept its top line in check. J&J's shares, a component of the Dow, fell 99 cents, or 2.7 percent to $58.58.
For some companies, even matching expectations for revenues isn't enough. Late Monday Texas Instruments reported revenues that came in line with estimates, but investors were disappointed that the company didn't report results as robust as come of its competitors. TI's shares slumped 78 cents, or 3 percent, to $24.77.
IBM fell $3.24, or 2.5 percent, to $126.52.
Goldman Sachs' results are being closely watched since investors are concerned about how much banks will be restricted from trading by new financial regulation reform. The bank's net income after paying preferred stock dividends fell 83 percent to $453 million on lower trading revenue and a charge to settle civil fraud charges brought by the government.
Goldman rose $3.23, or 2.2 percent, to $148.91.
Overseas, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.2 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 0.8 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 0.7 percent. Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 1.2 percent.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Walking with Christ
Romans 1:4-6
The pathway of faith has divine purpose, and we're to obey, no matter what. But even when God's direction is perplexing, we can count on the fact that He is good.
Walking obediently with Christ doesn't guarantee an easy life, which is obvious when we consider the apostle Paul. He encountered all kinds of hardships, including shipwreck, persecution, and beatings (2 Cor. 11:23-27). Keep in mind, though, that nothing can touch a believer without God's loving permission. He uses difficulty to strengthen and correct believers—and eventually to achieve His ultimate plan. Also remember that the Lord protects His followers in their suffering, just as He kept Paul safe in situations that seemed impossible.
Adversity can tempt us to ignore the Holy Spirit's guidance. But we will ultimately regret such a decision, as God doesn't spare us from the consequences of our sin. However, He never lets go of His children, whom He will continue to protect and guide throughout life.
Walking in obedience and trust is the only avenue to true peace. As Paul sat in an uncomfortable Roman prison where his life was in danger, he encouraged believers not to worry but to pray with gratitude. Doing so leads to experiencing peace beyond what we can comprehend (Phil. 4:6).
The only wise way to live is to trust in almighty God and follow wherever He leads. That is the road to contentment, fulfillment, protection, and peace. Are you journeying on the pathway of faith? Or is something holding you back from all God intended for your life?
For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
Watch Online Videos of Dr. Charles Stanley and In Touch Ministries at LightSource.com
The pathway of faith has divine purpose, and we're to obey, no matter what. But even when God's direction is perplexing, we can count on the fact that He is good.
Walking obediently with Christ doesn't guarantee an easy life, which is obvious when we consider the apostle Paul. He encountered all kinds of hardships, including shipwreck, persecution, and beatings (2 Cor. 11:23-27). Keep in mind, though, that nothing can touch a believer without God's loving permission. He uses difficulty to strengthen and correct believers—and eventually to achieve His ultimate plan. Also remember that the Lord protects His followers in their suffering, just as He kept Paul safe in situations that seemed impossible.
Adversity can tempt us to ignore the Holy Spirit's guidance. But we will ultimately regret such a decision, as God doesn't spare us from the consequences of our sin. However, He never lets go of His children, whom He will continue to protect and guide throughout life.
Walking in obedience and trust is the only avenue to true peace. As Paul sat in an uncomfortable Roman prison where his life was in danger, he encouraged believers not to worry but to pray with gratitude. Doing so leads to experiencing peace beyond what we can comprehend (Phil. 4:6).
The only wise way to live is to trust in almighty God and follow wherever He leads. That is the road to contentment, fulfillment, protection, and peace. Are you journeying on the pathway of faith? Or is something holding you back from all God intended for your life?
For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
Watch Online Videos of Dr. Charles Stanley and In Touch Ministries at LightSource.com
Can We Trust Our Conscience?
2 Corinthians 1:12
The conscience looks at thoughts and actions to determine if they are in line with one's principles and standards. It is important to keep our internal alarm system well maintained so it will be trustworthy.
For our moral compass to sound at the right time and for the right reason, we must:
• Accept Scripture as our standard for behavior. Second Timothy 3:16 says, "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness." If we choose to adopt our culture's values, which are often at odds with the Lord's, our conscience will be unreliable. Instead, we want our radar to alert us to the possibility of going off course.
• Align our thinking with the Lord's. Romans 12:2 says to renew our minds. It is necessary and ongoing work to combat what this unbelieving world accepts as true and right. Our alarm system should help us identify ungodly ideas.
• Apply God's Word to daily living. When our habits reflect godly values, our conscience will become more sensitive to what is right and wrong.
In addition, it is essential that we rely on the Holy Spirit for understanding. Our conscience by itself is of some value, but it becomes indispensable when accompanied by the Spirit's guidance (John 16:13).
The Scriptures teach us how to live—in our thought life, conduct, and emotions (Gal. 5:16-23). As we make our standards align more closely with the Lord's, our conscience will become increasingly trustworthy because it is based on what is important to our heavenly Father.
For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
Watch Online Videos of Dr. Charles Stanley and In Touch Ministries at LightSource.com
The conscience looks at thoughts and actions to determine if they are in line with one's principles and standards. It is important to keep our internal alarm system well maintained so it will be trustworthy.
For our moral compass to sound at the right time and for the right reason, we must:
• Accept Scripture as our standard for behavior. Second Timothy 3:16 says, "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness." If we choose to adopt our culture's values, which are often at odds with the Lord's, our conscience will be unreliable. Instead, we want our radar to alert us to the possibility of going off course.
• Align our thinking with the Lord's. Romans 12:2 says to renew our minds. It is necessary and ongoing work to combat what this unbelieving world accepts as true and right. Our alarm system should help us identify ungodly ideas.
• Apply God's Word to daily living. When our habits reflect godly values, our conscience will become more sensitive to what is right and wrong.
In addition, it is essential that we rely on the Holy Spirit for understanding. Our conscience by itself is of some value, but it becomes indispensable when accompanied by the Spirit's guidance (John 16:13).
The Scriptures teach us how to live—in our thought life, conduct, and emotions (Gal. 5:16-23). As we make our standards align more closely with the Lord's, our conscience will become increasingly trustworthy because it is based on what is important to our heavenly Father.
For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
Watch Online Videos of Dr. Charles Stanley and In Touch Ministries at LightSource.com
Sex and the Single Person
by John Piper
If the Bible addresses an issue with unrelenting frequency and urgency, and if that issue is one of the strongest natural forces in the world today, then ministers of the Word of God are obligated sooner or later to declare God's will on that issue. The sexual life of the unmarried person is of great concern to God. Even those of you who have not entrusted yourselves to Christ for salvation and do not love God, even you are obligated to obey what God has to say about your sexual desires. Though you rebel against his ownership, you are God's. He made you and has an absolute right to tell you what is good for you. He sent Jesus Christ into the world to overcome your rebellion and to make peace by the blood of his cross. And my prayer at the very outset is that you might turn from your rebellion and unbelief and disobedience, and that you might trust Christ for forgiveness and live for the glory of God.
Your Body Is Not Your Own
Then I would be able to say to everyone in this room, do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20).
O, what an offensive word to our rebel human nature. The body in which you dwell is not yours to do with simply as you please. God bought your body from the curse of sin by the payment of his own Son, and now your body should serve one all-encompassing purpose: "Glorify, God in your body." As Paul said in Romans 6:12-14,
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies to make you obey their passions. Do not yield yourselves to sin as instruments of wickedness, but yield yourselves to God as people who have been brought from death to life, and your bodily parts to God as instruments of righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
God is concerned about what you do with your body. He created them, he bought them, he owns them, he indwells them, and what we do with them demonstrates to the world who our Lord is. If I were to stop here with this general admonition, our consciences would give us some guidance in specific cases, say, of whether we should smoke, or drink, or use drugs, or overeat, or never exercise, or get too little sleep, or engage in sexual relations outside marriage, or masturbate, or wear enticing clothing, or other things that misuse or abuse the body. But what our consciences approve and disapprove of is not always an accurate guide to what God approves of. Therefore, the Bible goes beyond the general admonition, "Glorify God in your body," to the more specific guidance, especially in the matter of sexual desires. So I aim to be more specific, too.
Why Did God Invent Sexual Desire?
The question I want to start with is this: Why did God invent sexual desire? Before I try to answer that question from Scripture, let me define sexual desire. First of all, I am not including homosexual desires. Until I have a chance to preach on homosexuality I'll just say three things about it:
If you are here and homosexual, I pray that you will not feel driven away, but will stay and seek help.
The practice of homosexuality is sin; it is contrary to God's revealed will.
Homosexual desires, like many other kinds of desires, are abnormal, and those who have them should seek through prayer, fellowship, and Christian counseling to be changed. It is not easy, but it is possible.
When I ask the question, why God created sexual desire, I have in mind that normal craving for sexual stimulation and intimacy that begins with early adolescence and continues, for some it seems, indefinitely, but for many mellows out into a less visceral craving but nevertheless real desire for personal and bodily intimacy. I acknowledge that in these years of sexual desire there are many people with very vigorous, and people with very mild, sexual desires. I don't mean to treat anyone along this continuum as better or worse than another. When I speak of those with sexual desires I refer to the vast majority of people who from their early adolescence have to deal one way or another with God-given sexual appetite.
Now, why did he create it? Let me give one brief answer and one expanded answer. The brief answer comes from Genesis 1:27, 28, "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it."' Since sexual desire aims finally at consummation in sexual intercourse, and sexual intercourse is the means that man and woman have of multiplying and filling the earth, therefore, I infer that one of the reasons God created us with sexual desire is to see to it that mankind would indeed fill the earth with people. And for some people procreation of children is the only justification for seeking gratification of sexual desires. But we will see in more detail next week, when we talk about sexual relations in marriage, that the apostle Paul has quite a different view.
A second answer to the question, why God created sexual desire, is found, I believe, in 1 Timothy 4:1-5,
Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons through the pretensions of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and enjoin abstinence from foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for then it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.
In this text Paul is trying to help Timothy know what to say when false teachers arise (and there were some already at Ephesus) who teach that gratification of sexual appetite in marriage and the gratification of appetite for food should be cut back as far as possible. That means, abstain from marriage altogether and avoid unnecessary foods. It is no accident that Paul mentions marriage and eating together here and then treats them as one problem. Because the issue is really bodily pleasure, unnecessary bodily pleasure, whether through sexual stimulation or through eating food. The false teachers said, "Cut bodily pleasure to the minimum that will allow you to live."
Paul's response to this ascetic teaching is very plain in verses 4 and 5:
Everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving; for then it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.
Why did God create sexual desire and sexual intercourse to satisfy it? Why did God create hunger and food to satisfy it? Verse 3 gives a very straightforward answer: "God created (these things) to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth." All the unnecessary, innocent pleasures of life (and there are thousands of them) were created by God to be occasions for thanksgiving to God by those who believe and know the truth. The reason God created sexual desire and the event of sexual intercourse to satisfy it is not merely to fill the earth with people, but also to give another unique and exquisite occasion for the ascent of thanks from two hearts full of gratitude for God's gift of sexuality.
And let us not be deceived by the world. This gift was designed for believers and no one else. Look at verse 3, "God created these things to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe." By its very design it can only be for believers, because it is designed as an occasion for thanksgiving. But those who do not "know the truth"—the truth, namely, that God is the giver of all good gifts and worthy to be glorified and thanked—those who hold down this truth (Romans 1:18, 25) and do not trust in God cannot satisfy their sexual desires according to the design of God. All their sexual behavior is sin because it does not spring from faith in God (Romans 14:23) and does not result in thanks to God. Sexual pleasure belongs rightfully only to believers. All others are thieves and robbers. Don't ever let the world deceive you into thinking that we Christians are trying to borrow and purify a limited amount of the world's pleasure. God created sexual pleasure for his subjects alone, and the world has rebelled against him and stolen his gifts and corrupted them and debased them and turned them into weapons of destruction and laughed at those who remain faithful to the King and use his gifts according to his Word. But we will not be deceived. The gift is ours, and we will consecrate it, that is, we will keep it pure, as Paul says in verse 5, "by the word of God and prayer."
Since we believe that God designed sexual desire and that he gave it to us for our good (otherwise we wouldn't give thanks), we infer something that is completely reasonable, namely, that God knows how each of his creatures can make the most of this desire and that, therefore, his Word is an infallible guide to maximum sexual fulfillment. I said this is a reasonable inference. Only so if you really trust God. The world will laugh its head off at the thought that biblical restraints make for maximum sex. But if we believe that God is good and that in Christ he has forgiven all our sins, then we must believe that his words of guidance on sexual matters will bring us the greatest possible fulfillment, even if it means total abstinence.
Why Is Sexual Fulfillment Intended Only for Marriage?
Now, what are his words of guidance to those who are not married? The Greek word from which we get "pornography" is porneia. In the New Testament porneia is translated as "fornication," "unchastity," or "immorality." Generally (though not always) it refers to sexual promiscuity of unmarried people. In Matthew 15:19 Jesus says, "Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication." Here it stands side by side with adultery, adultery being the specific sin of sexual unfaithfulness in marriage, and fornication being the more general word covering illicit sexual relations for persons who are not married.
The New Testament as well as the Old condemns fornication, or sexual intercourse outside marriage, as sin. In Galatians 5:19 Paul lists it with the works of the flesh. In 2 Corinthians 12:21 he is ready to weep over those who have not repented of this sin. In Ephesians 5:3 he says fornication should never have to be named among Christians. In Colossians 3:5 fornication is first on Paul's list of things we should put to death in ourselves. And in Revelation 9:21 it is listed with murder, sorcery, and theft as things a hardened people would not repent of.
In 1 Corinthians 7:2 Paul says,
Because of temptation to immorality (i.e., fornication) each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.
Then he goes on in verses 8 and 9:
To the unmarried (men and women) and to the widows I say it is well for them to remain single as I do. But if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion.
The point I want to take from these verses is that, according to Scripture, all sexual intercourse before marriage is immoral. There are many man-centered moralists today who admit that indiscriminate sexual relations are wrong but who argue that, when a couple is engaged or has a deep friendship, then things are different and sexual relations are a legitimate expression of love. But the biblical view cannot be stretched to cover that concession. Paul considers the possibility that a couple may be aflame with passion for each other, and his one and only release from continence is marriage: "If they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry!" God not only created sexual desire, but he also created the perfect sphere for its gratification, marriage. And any attempt to alter his design is not only immoral before God, but destructive of personal relations and individual fulfillment.
This raises the next question: Why did God command that we find gratification for our sexual desires only in marriage? To the best of my knowledge, God does not give us a direct answer to this question in his Word, nor is he obligated to. Sometimes God leaves the wisdom of his commands for us to discover by experience. Those who disobey him discover it through tragedy. Those who obey discover it through patience and joy.
The way I have tried to understand God's wisdom and love in limiting sexual intercourse to marriage is by asking, "What is it that distinguishes marriage from all other heterosexual relations?" The biblical answer to that question is that marriage is distinguished from other chosen relationships by its permanence. Marriage is a commitment made for a lifetime, till death do us part. 1 Corinthians 7:39,
A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. If the husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.
There is no other relationship between a man and a woman requiring that kind of permanent commitment. Therefore, in marriage God has designed a unique and stable and lasting relation for our most intimate expression of love. I believe experience confirms that something good and beautiful is lost from our sexual intimacy in marriage if we gave ourselves away outside that union. God can forgive that sin, but the scar he does not remove. The act will never be the same again. There is an inexpressible deepening of the union of marriage, which God intended, when a husband and wife can lie beside each other in perfect peace and freedom and say, "What I have just given you I have never given to another." I speak to those for whom it is not too late: Do not throw that away.
I find it helpful to use the analogy of Jesus' words in Matthew 7:6, "Don't cast your pearls before swine." It is possible to debase the truth by dispensing it willy-nilly. There are some truths that are too precious to be discussed in hostile, worldly settings. That's the way it is with our bodies, too. Nobody dispenses his bodily affections indiscriminately. You don't shake hands with all the people you nod to. You don't hug all the people you shake hands with. You don't kiss all the people you hug. And I would argue that there is a pearl of great value, a pearl of emotional, spiritual, physical intimacy, which can only be placed in one container without being debased and ruined, and that is the strong, permanent velvet-lined case of marriage. The unique, personal sexual fulfillment in the permanence of marriage for those who have kept themselves pure is one of the best explanations for why God limited the gratification of sexual desires to marriage.
The implication of all this for the single person with average sexual desires is not easy. Even if a person gets married in his early twenties, he is confronted with a preceding decade of sexual stress. And for those who remain single, whether by choice or not, the problem of handling sexual desires continues much longer. What help can we give to these people, among whom I include everybody from thirteen years on up who is unmarried and yet feels desires for sexual stimulation and gratification? My main burden for you in this category is that you glorify God in your bodies by keeping yourself free from any enslavement, except to God. In Romans 6:16 Paul said,
Do you not know that if you yield yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
And in 1 Corinthians 6:12 the proud Corinthian libertines said, "All things are lawful for me," but Paul responded, "Yet I will not be enslaved by anything." The meaning of that little interchange is that it is possible to be enslaved in the name of freedom. That is the situation in the world today. In the name of sexual freedom, we are a nation enslaved to our sexual cravings. If you want to know what a nation is hooked on, just observe what the media masters use to get and hold our attention. Sex sells everything. It sells movies, cars, furniture, clothes, booze, news, cigarettes, and sporting gear. Sex sells because we are a nation enslaved to the second, third, and fourth look at the body in the picture. But it shall not be so among you, because you have been set free from sin and are now enslaved to God. Therefore, glorify God by keeping yourself free from the enslaving forces of the world.
Ten Words of Counsel for Single People
I have ten words of counsel for persons who are not married but who have to deal with sexual desires. Some of these have a masculine orientation because I know the male temptation firsthand but not the female. Some are dos and some are don'ts, but all aim to be positive in that they are intended to help you preserve your freedom from any enslavement but God's.
First, do not seek regular sexual gratification through masturbation, that is, the stimulation of your own self to sexual orgasm or climax. Masturbation does not solve sexual pressure for very long, it tends to become habitual, it produces guilt, and it contradicts the God-given design of sexuality. Our bodies and desires were designed for the sexual union of persons, and masturbation contradicts that design. But perhaps worst of all, masturbation is inevitably accompanied and enabled by sexual fantasies in the mind which we would not allow ourselves in reality and so we become like the Pharisees: well scrubbed on the outside, but inside full of perversions.
Second, do not seek sexual satisfaction through touching or being touched by another person, even if you stop short of sexual intercourse. Everyone knows that intimate touching is the prelude and preparation for sexual intercourse, and therefore it belongs where that event belongs, namely, in marriage. Where the permanent commitment that characterizes marriage is missing, caressing becomes depersonalized manipulation; it turns the other's body into a masturbation device to get a private physical thrill. God made us in such a way that if we try to turn that moment of touching into a personal, spiritual expression of love, we are not able to do it without making promises of faithfulness. Implicit in our hearts at that moment is the statement: You may touch me because you have promised never to leave me nor forsake me. You may have me because you are me. We are so made that we cry out for permanence when giving away our most intimate gifts. They belong in marriage.
Third, avoid unnecessary sexual stimulation. It doesn't take any brains to know that there are enough X-rated movie houses and adult bookstores in this city to keep a person livid 24 hours a day. To visit these crummy places is temptation enough. But the real test is what you do with the more legitimate sources of sexual stimulation. PG movies, Timemagazine, the newspaper, television, drugstore magazine racks, rock music lyrics. In our society you cannot escape sexual stimulation, but you can refuse to seek it. And you can avoid it often when you see it coming. This is the great test of whether we are enslaved or free—can we say no to the slave driver in our bodies who wants us to keep on looking and keep on lusting.
Fourth, when the stimulation comes and the desire starts to rise, perform a very conscious act of transfer onto Christ. I wish I had learned this much earlier in my life. While riding down the road, if some billboard or marquee puts a desire into my mind for some illegitimate sexual pleasure, I take that desire and say, "Jesus, you are my Lord and my God, and my greatest desire is to know and love and obey you, so this desire is really for you. I take it from your competitor, I purge it, and I direct it to you. Thank you for freeing me from the bondage of sin." It is remarkable what control we can gain over the direction our desires take, if we really long to please Christ.
Fifth, pray that God would give you, in ever-increasing strength, a longing to know and love and obey him above all else. I read a sermon once entitled, "The Expulsive Power of a New Affection." The point was, there is no better way to overcome a bad desire than to push it out with a new one. It is in prayer that we summon the divine help to produce in us that new desire for God.
Sixth, bathe your mind in God's Word. Jesus prayed, "Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth" (John 17:17). There is nothing that renews the mind and enables it to assess things God's way like regular meditation on the Word of God. The person who does not arm himself with the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17) is going to lose in the battle for his or her body.
Seventh, keep yourself busy, and when it is time for leisure, choose things that are pure, lovely, gracious, excellent, worthy of praise (Philippians 4:8). Idleness in a world like ours is asking for trouble. It is much harder for sexual temptation to gain a foothold when we are busy at some productive task. And if you need some fresh air, walk in a park, not down Hennepin Avenue.
Eighth, don't spend too much time alone. Be with Christian people often. Don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together, but encourage one another, stir each other up to love and good works. Talk of your struggles with trusted friends. Pray for each other and hold each other accountable.
Ninth, strive to think of all people, especially people of the opposite sex, in relation to eternity. It is not easy to fantasize about a person if you think about the eternal torment they may shortly be suffering in hell because of their unbelief. Nor is it easy to disrobe in your imagination a person you know to be an eternal sister or brother in Christ. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:16, "From now on we know no one according to the flesh." We view everybody from God's eternal perspective.
Finally, resolve to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and he will add to you everything you need sexually. It may be a spouse. It may be the grace and freedom to be single and pure and content. That is up to God. Ours is to seek the kingdom. Or to put it another way, our all-consuming passion must be to glorify God in our bodies by keeping ourselves free from every enslavement but one: the joyful, fulfilling slavery to God.
By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: www.desiringGod.org. Email: mail@desiringGod.org. Toll Free: 1.888.346.4700.
If the Bible addresses an issue with unrelenting frequency and urgency, and if that issue is one of the strongest natural forces in the world today, then ministers of the Word of God are obligated sooner or later to declare God's will on that issue. The sexual life of the unmarried person is of great concern to God. Even those of you who have not entrusted yourselves to Christ for salvation and do not love God, even you are obligated to obey what God has to say about your sexual desires. Though you rebel against his ownership, you are God's. He made you and has an absolute right to tell you what is good for you. He sent Jesus Christ into the world to overcome your rebellion and to make peace by the blood of his cross. And my prayer at the very outset is that you might turn from your rebellion and unbelief and disobedience, and that you might trust Christ for forgiveness and live for the glory of God.
Your Body Is Not Your Own
Then I would be able to say to everyone in this room, do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20).
O, what an offensive word to our rebel human nature. The body in which you dwell is not yours to do with simply as you please. God bought your body from the curse of sin by the payment of his own Son, and now your body should serve one all-encompassing purpose: "Glorify, God in your body." As Paul said in Romans 6:12-14,
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies to make you obey their passions. Do not yield yourselves to sin as instruments of wickedness, but yield yourselves to God as people who have been brought from death to life, and your bodily parts to God as instruments of righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
God is concerned about what you do with your body. He created them, he bought them, he owns them, he indwells them, and what we do with them demonstrates to the world who our Lord is. If I were to stop here with this general admonition, our consciences would give us some guidance in specific cases, say, of whether we should smoke, or drink, or use drugs, or overeat, or never exercise, or get too little sleep, or engage in sexual relations outside marriage, or masturbate, or wear enticing clothing, or other things that misuse or abuse the body. But what our consciences approve and disapprove of is not always an accurate guide to what God approves of. Therefore, the Bible goes beyond the general admonition, "Glorify God in your body," to the more specific guidance, especially in the matter of sexual desires. So I aim to be more specific, too.
Why Did God Invent Sexual Desire?
The question I want to start with is this: Why did God invent sexual desire? Before I try to answer that question from Scripture, let me define sexual desire. First of all, I am not including homosexual desires. Until I have a chance to preach on homosexuality I'll just say three things about it:
If you are here and homosexual, I pray that you will not feel driven away, but will stay and seek help.
The practice of homosexuality is sin; it is contrary to God's revealed will.
Homosexual desires, like many other kinds of desires, are abnormal, and those who have them should seek through prayer, fellowship, and Christian counseling to be changed. It is not easy, but it is possible.
When I ask the question, why God created sexual desire, I have in mind that normal craving for sexual stimulation and intimacy that begins with early adolescence and continues, for some it seems, indefinitely, but for many mellows out into a less visceral craving but nevertheless real desire for personal and bodily intimacy. I acknowledge that in these years of sexual desire there are many people with very vigorous, and people with very mild, sexual desires. I don't mean to treat anyone along this continuum as better or worse than another. When I speak of those with sexual desires I refer to the vast majority of people who from their early adolescence have to deal one way or another with God-given sexual appetite.
Now, why did he create it? Let me give one brief answer and one expanded answer. The brief answer comes from Genesis 1:27, 28, "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it."' Since sexual desire aims finally at consummation in sexual intercourse, and sexual intercourse is the means that man and woman have of multiplying and filling the earth, therefore, I infer that one of the reasons God created us with sexual desire is to see to it that mankind would indeed fill the earth with people. And for some people procreation of children is the only justification for seeking gratification of sexual desires. But we will see in more detail next week, when we talk about sexual relations in marriage, that the apostle Paul has quite a different view.
A second answer to the question, why God created sexual desire, is found, I believe, in 1 Timothy 4:1-5,
Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons through the pretensions of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and enjoin abstinence from foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for then it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.
In this text Paul is trying to help Timothy know what to say when false teachers arise (and there were some already at Ephesus) who teach that gratification of sexual appetite in marriage and the gratification of appetite for food should be cut back as far as possible. That means, abstain from marriage altogether and avoid unnecessary foods. It is no accident that Paul mentions marriage and eating together here and then treats them as one problem. Because the issue is really bodily pleasure, unnecessary bodily pleasure, whether through sexual stimulation or through eating food. The false teachers said, "Cut bodily pleasure to the minimum that will allow you to live."
Paul's response to this ascetic teaching is very plain in verses 4 and 5:
Everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving; for then it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.
Why did God create sexual desire and sexual intercourse to satisfy it? Why did God create hunger and food to satisfy it? Verse 3 gives a very straightforward answer: "God created (these things) to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth." All the unnecessary, innocent pleasures of life (and there are thousands of them) were created by God to be occasions for thanksgiving to God by those who believe and know the truth. The reason God created sexual desire and the event of sexual intercourse to satisfy it is not merely to fill the earth with people, but also to give another unique and exquisite occasion for the ascent of thanks from two hearts full of gratitude for God's gift of sexuality.
And let us not be deceived by the world. This gift was designed for believers and no one else. Look at verse 3, "God created these things to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe." By its very design it can only be for believers, because it is designed as an occasion for thanksgiving. But those who do not "know the truth"—the truth, namely, that God is the giver of all good gifts and worthy to be glorified and thanked—those who hold down this truth (Romans 1:18, 25) and do not trust in God cannot satisfy their sexual desires according to the design of God. All their sexual behavior is sin because it does not spring from faith in God (Romans 14:23) and does not result in thanks to God. Sexual pleasure belongs rightfully only to believers. All others are thieves and robbers. Don't ever let the world deceive you into thinking that we Christians are trying to borrow and purify a limited amount of the world's pleasure. God created sexual pleasure for his subjects alone, and the world has rebelled against him and stolen his gifts and corrupted them and debased them and turned them into weapons of destruction and laughed at those who remain faithful to the King and use his gifts according to his Word. But we will not be deceived. The gift is ours, and we will consecrate it, that is, we will keep it pure, as Paul says in verse 5, "by the word of God and prayer."
Since we believe that God designed sexual desire and that he gave it to us for our good (otherwise we wouldn't give thanks), we infer something that is completely reasonable, namely, that God knows how each of his creatures can make the most of this desire and that, therefore, his Word is an infallible guide to maximum sexual fulfillment. I said this is a reasonable inference. Only so if you really trust God. The world will laugh its head off at the thought that biblical restraints make for maximum sex. But if we believe that God is good and that in Christ he has forgiven all our sins, then we must believe that his words of guidance on sexual matters will bring us the greatest possible fulfillment, even if it means total abstinence.
Why Is Sexual Fulfillment Intended Only for Marriage?
Now, what are his words of guidance to those who are not married? The Greek word from which we get "pornography" is porneia. In the New Testament porneia is translated as "fornication," "unchastity," or "immorality." Generally (though not always) it refers to sexual promiscuity of unmarried people. In Matthew 15:19 Jesus says, "Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication." Here it stands side by side with adultery, adultery being the specific sin of sexual unfaithfulness in marriage, and fornication being the more general word covering illicit sexual relations for persons who are not married.
The New Testament as well as the Old condemns fornication, or sexual intercourse outside marriage, as sin. In Galatians 5:19 Paul lists it with the works of the flesh. In 2 Corinthians 12:21 he is ready to weep over those who have not repented of this sin. In Ephesians 5:3 he says fornication should never have to be named among Christians. In Colossians 3:5 fornication is first on Paul's list of things we should put to death in ourselves. And in Revelation 9:21 it is listed with murder, sorcery, and theft as things a hardened people would not repent of.
In 1 Corinthians 7:2 Paul says,
Because of temptation to immorality (i.e., fornication) each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.
Then he goes on in verses 8 and 9:
To the unmarried (men and women) and to the widows I say it is well for them to remain single as I do. But if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion.
The point I want to take from these verses is that, according to Scripture, all sexual intercourse before marriage is immoral. There are many man-centered moralists today who admit that indiscriminate sexual relations are wrong but who argue that, when a couple is engaged or has a deep friendship, then things are different and sexual relations are a legitimate expression of love. But the biblical view cannot be stretched to cover that concession. Paul considers the possibility that a couple may be aflame with passion for each other, and his one and only release from continence is marriage: "If they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry!" God not only created sexual desire, but he also created the perfect sphere for its gratification, marriage. And any attempt to alter his design is not only immoral before God, but destructive of personal relations and individual fulfillment.
This raises the next question: Why did God command that we find gratification for our sexual desires only in marriage? To the best of my knowledge, God does not give us a direct answer to this question in his Word, nor is he obligated to. Sometimes God leaves the wisdom of his commands for us to discover by experience. Those who disobey him discover it through tragedy. Those who obey discover it through patience and joy.
The way I have tried to understand God's wisdom and love in limiting sexual intercourse to marriage is by asking, "What is it that distinguishes marriage from all other heterosexual relations?" The biblical answer to that question is that marriage is distinguished from other chosen relationships by its permanence. Marriage is a commitment made for a lifetime, till death do us part. 1 Corinthians 7:39,
A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. If the husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.
There is no other relationship between a man and a woman requiring that kind of permanent commitment. Therefore, in marriage God has designed a unique and stable and lasting relation for our most intimate expression of love. I believe experience confirms that something good and beautiful is lost from our sexual intimacy in marriage if we gave ourselves away outside that union. God can forgive that sin, but the scar he does not remove. The act will never be the same again. There is an inexpressible deepening of the union of marriage, which God intended, when a husband and wife can lie beside each other in perfect peace and freedom and say, "What I have just given you I have never given to another." I speak to those for whom it is not too late: Do not throw that away.
I find it helpful to use the analogy of Jesus' words in Matthew 7:6, "Don't cast your pearls before swine." It is possible to debase the truth by dispensing it willy-nilly. There are some truths that are too precious to be discussed in hostile, worldly settings. That's the way it is with our bodies, too. Nobody dispenses his bodily affections indiscriminately. You don't shake hands with all the people you nod to. You don't hug all the people you shake hands with. You don't kiss all the people you hug. And I would argue that there is a pearl of great value, a pearl of emotional, spiritual, physical intimacy, which can only be placed in one container without being debased and ruined, and that is the strong, permanent velvet-lined case of marriage. The unique, personal sexual fulfillment in the permanence of marriage for those who have kept themselves pure is one of the best explanations for why God limited the gratification of sexual desires to marriage.
The implication of all this for the single person with average sexual desires is not easy. Even if a person gets married in his early twenties, he is confronted with a preceding decade of sexual stress. And for those who remain single, whether by choice or not, the problem of handling sexual desires continues much longer. What help can we give to these people, among whom I include everybody from thirteen years on up who is unmarried and yet feels desires for sexual stimulation and gratification? My main burden for you in this category is that you glorify God in your bodies by keeping yourself free from any enslavement, except to God. In Romans 6:16 Paul said,
Do you not know that if you yield yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
And in 1 Corinthians 6:12 the proud Corinthian libertines said, "All things are lawful for me," but Paul responded, "Yet I will not be enslaved by anything." The meaning of that little interchange is that it is possible to be enslaved in the name of freedom. That is the situation in the world today. In the name of sexual freedom, we are a nation enslaved to our sexual cravings. If you want to know what a nation is hooked on, just observe what the media masters use to get and hold our attention. Sex sells everything. It sells movies, cars, furniture, clothes, booze, news, cigarettes, and sporting gear. Sex sells because we are a nation enslaved to the second, third, and fourth look at the body in the picture. But it shall not be so among you, because you have been set free from sin and are now enslaved to God. Therefore, glorify God by keeping yourself free from the enslaving forces of the world.
Ten Words of Counsel for Single People
I have ten words of counsel for persons who are not married but who have to deal with sexual desires. Some of these have a masculine orientation because I know the male temptation firsthand but not the female. Some are dos and some are don'ts, but all aim to be positive in that they are intended to help you preserve your freedom from any enslavement but God's.
First, do not seek regular sexual gratification through masturbation, that is, the stimulation of your own self to sexual orgasm or climax. Masturbation does not solve sexual pressure for very long, it tends to become habitual, it produces guilt, and it contradicts the God-given design of sexuality. Our bodies and desires were designed for the sexual union of persons, and masturbation contradicts that design. But perhaps worst of all, masturbation is inevitably accompanied and enabled by sexual fantasies in the mind which we would not allow ourselves in reality and so we become like the Pharisees: well scrubbed on the outside, but inside full of perversions.
Second, do not seek sexual satisfaction through touching or being touched by another person, even if you stop short of sexual intercourse. Everyone knows that intimate touching is the prelude and preparation for sexual intercourse, and therefore it belongs where that event belongs, namely, in marriage. Where the permanent commitment that characterizes marriage is missing, caressing becomes depersonalized manipulation; it turns the other's body into a masturbation device to get a private physical thrill. God made us in such a way that if we try to turn that moment of touching into a personal, spiritual expression of love, we are not able to do it without making promises of faithfulness. Implicit in our hearts at that moment is the statement: You may touch me because you have promised never to leave me nor forsake me. You may have me because you are me. We are so made that we cry out for permanence when giving away our most intimate gifts. They belong in marriage.
Third, avoid unnecessary sexual stimulation. It doesn't take any brains to know that there are enough X-rated movie houses and adult bookstores in this city to keep a person livid 24 hours a day. To visit these crummy places is temptation enough. But the real test is what you do with the more legitimate sources of sexual stimulation. PG movies, Timemagazine, the newspaper, television, drugstore magazine racks, rock music lyrics. In our society you cannot escape sexual stimulation, but you can refuse to seek it. And you can avoid it often when you see it coming. This is the great test of whether we are enslaved or free—can we say no to the slave driver in our bodies who wants us to keep on looking and keep on lusting.
Fourth, when the stimulation comes and the desire starts to rise, perform a very conscious act of transfer onto Christ. I wish I had learned this much earlier in my life. While riding down the road, if some billboard or marquee puts a desire into my mind for some illegitimate sexual pleasure, I take that desire and say, "Jesus, you are my Lord and my God, and my greatest desire is to know and love and obey you, so this desire is really for you. I take it from your competitor, I purge it, and I direct it to you. Thank you for freeing me from the bondage of sin." It is remarkable what control we can gain over the direction our desires take, if we really long to please Christ.
Fifth, pray that God would give you, in ever-increasing strength, a longing to know and love and obey him above all else. I read a sermon once entitled, "The Expulsive Power of a New Affection." The point was, there is no better way to overcome a bad desire than to push it out with a new one. It is in prayer that we summon the divine help to produce in us that new desire for God.
Sixth, bathe your mind in God's Word. Jesus prayed, "Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth" (John 17:17). There is nothing that renews the mind and enables it to assess things God's way like regular meditation on the Word of God. The person who does not arm himself with the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17) is going to lose in the battle for his or her body.
Seventh, keep yourself busy, and when it is time for leisure, choose things that are pure, lovely, gracious, excellent, worthy of praise (Philippians 4:8). Idleness in a world like ours is asking for trouble. It is much harder for sexual temptation to gain a foothold when we are busy at some productive task. And if you need some fresh air, walk in a park, not down Hennepin Avenue.
Eighth, don't spend too much time alone. Be with Christian people often. Don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together, but encourage one another, stir each other up to love and good works. Talk of your struggles with trusted friends. Pray for each other and hold each other accountable.
Ninth, strive to think of all people, especially people of the opposite sex, in relation to eternity. It is not easy to fantasize about a person if you think about the eternal torment they may shortly be suffering in hell because of their unbelief. Nor is it easy to disrobe in your imagination a person you know to be an eternal sister or brother in Christ. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:16, "From now on we know no one according to the flesh." We view everybody from God's eternal perspective.
Finally, resolve to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and he will add to you everything you need sexually. It may be a spouse. It may be the grace and freedom to be single and pure and content. That is up to God. Ours is to seek the kingdom. Or to put it another way, our all-consuming passion must be to glorify God in our bodies by keeping ourselves free from every enslavement but one: the joyful, fulfilling slavery to God.
By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: www.desiringGod.org. Email: mail@desiringGod.org. Toll Free: 1.888.346.4700.
FA...Stocks rebound as investors focus on upcoming earnings, shrug off homebuilders report
In this photo made July 16, 2010, traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, in New York. Stocks are set to bounce back modestly Monday, July 19, after a brutal close to the previous week.(AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
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{"s" : "aapl,ba,dhi,gs,hal,has,ibm,jnj,len,mco,txn,yhoo","k" : "a00,a50,b00,b60,c10,g00,h00,l10,p20,t10,v00","o" : "","j" : ""} Stephen Bernard, AP Business Writer, On Monday July 19, 2010, 5:44 pm EDT
NEW YORK (AP) -- The stock market is fulfilling predictions of an uneasy trek through second-quarter earnings season.
Stocks ended a choppy day Monday with a moderate rebound that sent the Dow Jones industrial average up 56 points. Analysts said the advance was due in part to investors' regaining their optimism about earnings. But that change in sentment was fleeting: After the market closed, IBM reported revenue that fell short of expectations, and investors were back to selling in after-hours trading.
IBM Corp. did issue a more upbeat forecast for its 2010 earnings that in the past would have lifted stocks. But with investors increasingly on edge about signs of trouble in the economy, many decided not to share in IBM's more confident view of the future.
"The market is caught up by this fear factor over how much the economy has slowed and what does it mean in terms of future earnings growth," Peter Cardillo, chief market economist for Avalon Partners in New York, said before the market closed.
IBM stock fell sharply in after-hours trading. Investors also punished Texas Instruments Inc. after the chip maker matched but didn't surpass analysts' second-quarter revenue predictions.
Analysts have predicted that stock trading would be erratic throughout earnings season. Recent economic data has been disappointing, and investors are having a hard time trusting upbeat forecasts.
Stocks had fallen sharply Friday, taking the Dow down 261 points, after news of a drop in consumer confidence. That was a negative signal for the economy. Stocks also fell after big banks' earnings had investors doubting whether financial company profits would be curtailed in the future by new federal regulations.
Investors managed to weather some bad news early in the day Monday. The National Association of Home Builders said that its confidence index sank to 14, its lowest level since March 2009. A reading below 50 indicates homebuilders have a negative view of the housing market. The report was the latest in a series of disappointing housing numbers that began appearing after the government's homebuyer tax credit expired at the end of April.
Alan Gayle, senior investment strategist for RidgeWorth Investments, said Monday's market moves were in part a response to the announcement of better-than-expected orders for Boeing Co. at the Farnborough International Airshow in Britain. The aircraft maker announced orders at the Farnborough show, including a deal with Dubai-based airline Emirates worth $3.6 billion. Boeing also said GE Capital Aviation Services placed a $3 billion order.
Boeing's stock rose during regular trading, but it joined other stocks in falling in after-hours trading in response to IBM's revenue report.
The Dow rose 56.53, or 0.6 percent, to 10,154.43. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 6.37, or 0.6 percent, to 1,071.25, while the Nasdaq composite index, lifted by a rally in tech stocks, rose 19.18, or 0.9 percent, to 2,198.23.
Gainers outnumbered losers by 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was light, which can help exaggerate price moves. More than 954 million shares changed hands.
Hundreds of companies are still to report earnings in the next few weeks. On Tuesday, companies from a variety of industries are reporting their results, including Yahoo Inc., Apple Inc., Johnson & Johnson and PepsiCo. Inc. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which last week settled civil fraud charges with the government, will also report its earnings.
Further readings on the housing market are due out later in the week. They too are expected to show the market is weak and that there are few signs that business will pick up anytime soon. Economists predict reports on housing starts, building permits and sales of previously occupied homes will show declines for June.
The building permits data is likely to be particularly discouraging because it is used as a gauge for future construction. Investors have become more concerned with forecasts for the future rather than past reports, so anything that indicates weakness in the coming months and quarters is being met with disappointment.
Housing stocks fell on the homebuilders' survey. D.R. Horton Inc. fell 13 cents to $9.97. Toll Bros. Inc. dropped 20 cents to $16.23, while Lennar Corp. fell 19 cents to $13.82.
IBM rose $1.76 to $129.79 in regular trading, lifted by investors' optimism. But it fell $5.29 in after-hours trading. Texas Instruments had gained 78 cents and closed at $25.55 in regular trading. It later fell $1.42.
Boeing rose $1.28 to $63.18 in regular trading, then retreated 57 cents after the market closed.
Investors were encouraged by Halliburton Co.'s earnings report and prospects for land-based business growth. The energy services company's stock jumped after it said a ban on offshore drilling would only cut earnings by 5 cents to 8 cents per share per quarter. Halliburton rose $1.66, or 6 percent, to $29.17.
At the same time, toy maker Hasbro Inc.'s earnings showed that shoppers are staying out of stores while unemployment remains high. Hasbro's earnings rose, but toy sales dropped adding to worries about the uncertain labor market and its effect on consumer spending. Hasbro fell 15 cents to $39.35.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 2.96 percent from 2.93 percent late Friday.
European markets all dipped. Moody's Investors Service cut its rating on Ireland's debt. Ratings agencies have regularly slashed ratings on many European countries' debt in recent months as mounting deficits dim the hopes for strong growth.
Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.2 percent, while Germany's DAX dipped 0.5 percent and France's CAC-40 fell 0.4 percent.
Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 2.9 percent.
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AAPL 245.58 -4.32
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{"s" : "aapl,ba,dhi,gs,hal,has,ibm,jnj,len,mco,txn,yhoo","k" : "a00,a50,b00,b60,c10,g00,h00,l10,p20,t10,v00","o" : "","j" : ""} Stephen Bernard, AP Business Writer, On Monday July 19, 2010, 5:44 pm EDT
NEW YORK (AP) -- The stock market is fulfilling predictions of an uneasy trek through second-quarter earnings season.
Stocks ended a choppy day Monday with a moderate rebound that sent the Dow Jones industrial average up 56 points. Analysts said the advance was due in part to investors' regaining their optimism about earnings. But that change in sentment was fleeting: After the market closed, IBM reported revenue that fell short of expectations, and investors were back to selling in after-hours trading.
IBM Corp. did issue a more upbeat forecast for its 2010 earnings that in the past would have lifted stocks. But with investors increasingly on edge about signs of trouble in the economy, many decided not to share in IBM's more confident view of the future.
"The market is caught up by this fear factor over how much the economy has slowed and what does it mean in terms of future earnings growth," Peter Cardillo, chief market economist for Avalon Partners in New York, said before the market closed.
IBM stock fell sharply in after-hours trading. Investors also punished Texas Instruments Inc. after the chip maker matched but didn't surpass analysts' second-quarter revenue predictions.
Analysts have predicted that stock trading would be erratic throughout earnings season. Recent economic data has been disappointing, and investors are having a hard time trusting upbeat forecasts.
Stocks had fallen sharply Friday, taking the Dow down 261 points, after news of a drop in consumer confidence. That was a negative signal for the economy. Stocks also fell after big banks' earnings had investors doubting whether financial company profits would be curtailed in the future by new federal regulations.
Investors managed to weather some bad news early in the day Monday. The National Association of Home Builders said that its confidence index sank to 14, its lowest level since March 2009. A reading below 50 indicates homebuilders have a negative view of the housing market. The report was the latest in a series of disappointing housing numbers that began appearing after the government's homebuyer tax credit expired at the end of April.
Alan Gayle, senior investment strategist for RidgeWorth Investments, said Monday's market moves were in part a response to the announcement of better-than-expected orders for Boeing Co. at the Farnborough International Airshow in Britain. The aircraft maker announced orders at the Farnborough show, including a deal with Dubai-based airline Emirates worth $3.6 billion. Boeing also said GE Capital Aviation Services placed a $3 billion order.
Boeing's stock rose during regular trading, but it joined other stocks in falling in after-hours trading in response to IBM's revenue report.
The Dow rose 56.53, or 0.6 percent, to 10,154.43. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 6.37, or 0.6 percent, to 1,071.25, while the Nasdaq composite index, lifted by a rally in tech stocks, rose 19.18, or 0.9 percent, to 2,198.23.
Gainers outnumbered losers by 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was light, which can help exaggerate price moves. More than 954 million shares changed hands.
Hundreds of companies are still to report earnings in the next few weeks. On Tuesday, companies from a variety of industries are reporting their results, including Yahoo Inc., Apple Inc., Johnson & Johnson and PepsiCo. Inc. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which last week settled civil fraud charges with the government, will also report its earnings.
Further readings on the housing market are due out later in the week. They too are expected to show the market is weak and that there are few signs that business will pick up anytime soon. Economists predict reports on housing starts, building permits and sales of previously occupied homes will show declines for June.
The building permits data is likely to be particularly discouraging because it is used as a gauge for future construction. Investors have become more concerned with forecasts for the future rather than past reports, so anything that indicates weakness in the coming months and quarters is being met with disappointment.
Housing stocks fell on the homebuilders' survey. D.R. Horton Inc. fell 13 cents to $9.97. Toll Bros. Inc. dropped 20 cents to $16.23, while Lennar Corp. fell 19 cents to $13.82.
IBM rose $1.76 to $129.79 in regular trading, lifted by investors' optimism. But it fell $5.29 in after-hours trading. Texas Instruments had gained 78 cents and closed at $25.55 in regular trading. It later fell $1.42.
Boeing rose $1.28 to $63.18 in regular trading, then retreated 57 cents after the market closed.
Investors were encouraged by Halliburton Co.'s earnings report and prospects for land-based business growth. The energy services company's stock jumped after it said a ban on offshore drilling would only cut earnings by 5 cents to 8 cents per share per quarter. Halliburton rose $1.66, or 6 percent, to $29.17.
At the same time, toy maker Hasbro Inc.'s earnings showed that shoppers are staying out of stores while unemployment remains high. Hasbro's earnings rose, but toy sales dropped adding to worries about the uncertain labor market and its effect on consumer spending. Hasbro fell 15 cents to $39.35.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 2.96 percent from 2.93 percent late Friday.
European markets all dipped. Moody's Investors Service cut its rating on Ireland's debt. Ratings agencies have regularly slashed ratings on many European countries' debt in recent months as mounting deficits dim the hopes for strong growth.
Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.2 percent, while Germany's DAX dipped 0.5 percent and France's CAC-40 fell 0.4 percent.
Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 2.9 percent.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
FA...Stocks extend gains into 6th straight day after Alcoa, CSX report upbeat profit, outlook
Stephen Bernard, AP Business Writer, On Tuesday July 13, 2010, 4:53 pm EDT
NEW YORK (AP) -- The stock market got a shot of confidence and adrenaline from the start of second-quarter earnings season.
Investors were enthusiastic Tuesday about better-than-expected profits from aluminum maker Alcoa Inc. and railroad operator CSX Corp. The Dow Jones industrial average rose more than 145 points and the major indexes were up well over 1 percent.
There was more good news from Intel Corp. after the close of trading. The chip maker reported earnings and revenue that beat analysts' expectations, and it also raised its forecast for the year. Its stock shot up more than 5 percent in after-hours trading.
The companies, among the first to report second-quarter earnings, also issued upbeat forecasts for the rest of the year. That was heartening news for investors who have been concerned that the recovery was stalling, or that the economy might even fall back into recession.
"When we go back to earnings and fundamentals, companies are delivering," said Tom Karsten, senior managing partner at Karsten Financial in Fort Worth, Texas.
Alcoa's earnings reports are closely watched because its varied customer base provides a snapshot of a broad range of other industries. It is also a component of the Dow Jones industrial average. CSX also provides insight into economic activity because it ships a wide range of products.
Alcoa said global consumption of aluminum will grow this year by more than it had forecast just three months ago. There have been concerns that the global economic recovery will end as many European nations face mounting government debt problems and high unemployment slows growth in the U.S.
CSX, meanwhile, said it sees its the economy's upward momentum continuing this year.
Intel's results are considered a good gauge of the health of the economy since its sales are driven by consumers and businesses buying computers.
Frank Ingarra, co-portfolio manager of Hennessy Funds in Stamford, Conn., said Alcoa and CSX's results lifted the market because they hit on the two themes that traders are looking for in earnings: revenue growth and optimistic outlooks.
"That's why the earnings were so good," Ingarra said. "You saw that top-line growth and good guidance."
During the recession, companies that made money often did so by cutting costs rather than bringing in sales. So sales growth is a sign that business is indeed picking up.
The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that the U.S. trade deficit increased to its widest level in 18 months as an increase in exports was outpaced by rising imports. A jump in both imports and exports is a sign that the economy is growing.
Earnings will likely continue to dictate trading over the next few weeks as hundreds of companies release results.
According to preliminary calculations, the Dow rose 146.75, or 1.4 percent, to 10,363.02. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 16.59, or 1.5 percent, to 1,095.34, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 43.67, or 2 percent, to 2,242.03.
NEW YORK (AP) -- The stock market got a shot of confidence and adrenaline from the start of second-quarter earnings season.
Investors were enthusiastic Tuesday about better-than-expected profits from aluminum maker Alcoa Inc. and railroad operator CSX Corp. The Dow Jones industrial average rose more than 145 points and the major indexes were up well over 1 percent.
There was more good news from Intel Corp. after the close of trading. The chip maker reported earnings and revenue that beat analysts' expectations, and it also raised its forecast for the year. Its stock shot up more than 5 percent in after-hours trading.
The companies, among the first to report second-quarter earnings, also issued upbeat forecasts for the rest of the year. That was heartening news for investors who have been concerned that the recovery was stalling, or that the economy might even fall back into recession.
"When we go back to earnings and fundamentals, companies are delivering," said Tom Karsten, senior managing partner at Karsten Financial in Fort Worth, Texas.
Alcoa's earnings reports are closely watched because its varied customer base provides a snapshot of a broad range of other industries. It is also a component of the Dow Jones industrial average. CSX also provides insight into economic activity because it ships a wide range of products.
Alcoa said global consumption of aluminum will grow this year by more than it had forecast just three months ago. There have been concerns that the global economic recovery will end as many European nations face mounting government debt problems and high unemployment slows growth in the U.S.
CSX, meanwhile, said it sees its the economy's upward momentum continuing this year.
Intel's results are considered a good gauge of the health of the economy since its sales are driven by consumers and businesses buying computers.
Frank Ingarra, co-portfolio manager of Hennessy Funds in Stamford, Conn., said Alcoa and CSX's results lifted the market because they hit on the two themes that traders are looking for in earnings: revenue growth and optimistic outlooks.
"That's why the earnings were so good," Ingarra said. "You saw that top-line growth and good guidance."
During the recession, companies that made money often did so by cutting costs rather than bringing in sales. So sales growth is a sign that business is indeed picking up.
The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that the U.S. trade deficit increased to its widest level in 18 months as an increase in exports was outpaced by rising imports. A jump in both imports and exports is a sign that the economy is growing.
Earnings will likely continue to dictate trading over the next few weeks as hundreds of companies release results.
According to preliminary calculations, the Dow rose 146.75, or 1.4 percent, to 10,363.02. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 16.59, or 1.5 percent, to 1,095.34, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 43.67, or 2 percent, to 2,242.03.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
God's Promise in Context
Psalm 19:7-11
Yesterday we noted that believers must consider the whole counsel of God to understand His promises. For example, the Lord's commitment to supply our needs isn't an isolated pledge without connection to other parts of Scripture.
Trust God to provide. James opens his letter with a strong warning that those who doubt the Lord can expect nothing from Him (1:6-7). God's trustworthiness is clear in Scripture and in believers' lives, but our wavering confidence undermines His work.
Wait upon His timing (1 Sam. 13:9-13). King Saul took over the prophet Samuel's duty and made a pre-battle sacrifice to God. Like so many people who manipulate circumstances and timing, Saul was dissatisfied with the results. He won the war but lost not only God's favor but also his kingdom. No one gets what he really wants by supplying his own need.
Accept responsibility (Prov. 19:15, 20:4). God does not open a door to opportunity while we're lying on the couch. We have to be on the lookout. If we need a job, we should be out making applications. If we want to know the Father's direction for a hard situation, we need to be seeking Him regularly through prayer and His Word. The Lord goes before us to soften hearts, but we must do our share.
God knows our needs, and He has committed Himself to meeting every one. But He does not make promises in a vacuum. We have a responsibility to trust Him, be patient, and do our part. Then we leave it to the Lord to move heaven and earth to give us what we require.
For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
Yesterday we noted that believers must consider the whole counsel of God to understand His promises. For example, the Lord's commitment to supply our needs isn't an isolated pledge without connection to other parts of Scripture.
Trust God to provide. James opens his letter with a strong warning that those who doubt the Lord can expect nothing from Him (1:6-7). God's trustworthiness is clear in Scripture and in believers' lives, but our wavering confidence undermines His work.
Wait upon His timing (1 Sam. 13:9-13). King Saul took over the prophet Samuel's duty and made a pre-battle sacrifice to God. Like so many people who manipulate circumstances and timing, Saul was dissatisfied with the results. He won the war but lost not only God's favor but also his kingdom. No one gets what he really wants by supplying his own need.
Accept responsibility (Prov. 19:15, 20:4). God does not open a door to opportunity while we're lying on the couch. We have to be on the lookout. If we need a job, we should be out making applications. If we want to know the Father's direction for a hard situation, we need to be seeking Him regularly through prayer and His Word. The Lord goes before us to soften hearts, but we must do our share.
God knows our needs, and He has committed Himself to meeting every one. But He does not make promises in a vacuum. We have a responsibility to trust Him, be patient, and do our part. Then we leave it to the Lord to move heaven and earth to give us what we require.
For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
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