ROME WASN'T BUILT IN A DAY

6/15/2008 Sunday 7:38 PM CT

By Dave Harris

At the core level, consumer inflation wasn’t all that bad for May. It gained by a tame .2 percent and within Wall Street expectations. The mood of investors seems to be better, as the central bank's future actions may communicate a goldilocks view. Friday was a good day for the major indexes, with the Dow up better than 165 points to close at 12,307.35. In the week ahead, we’ll have inflation readings from the wholesale level (the PPI), building permits and housing starts, and leading index of economic indicators from the conference board. The trend is slowly up for stocks, which is why I say "Rome wasn’t built in a day".

The focus this week is money management and consumer spending. Earnings reports come from the likes of Best Buy (BBY) and brokerage firm Goldman Sacs (GS) on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley (MS) and shipper Fed Ex (FDX), which can be a bellwether of the general economy is hump day. Circuit City (CC), in many ways Best Buy’s competition is Thursday.

Retail sales have been pretty encouraging lately. In May, retail sale rose by 1 percent and above views. I really like the retail REIT Simon Property Group (SPG) here. The major mall owner is selling at a much better value than Gen Growth (GGP). Nice yield at 3.7 percent! The consumer is not weak, and that the place to put some money to work.

Apple (AAPL) said a cheaper version of its iPhone (3G model) is in the works. Wall Street generally sent shares down in response. I have to admit my dislike of some recent management decisions. Cutting the price of their original iPhone so quickly is one of them, and this is another. But as an investment, Apple is cutting edge. Any pullback in the share price warrants a recommendation here. I would buy the stock. It closed down .89 at 172.37.