In This Issue: •New Risks Emerge as Global Rates Rise: Japan's move to raise interest rates could eventually encourage its diligent savers to pull out of U.S. Treasuries.
•STARS Status: Changes in S&P analysts' STARS rankings for July 31 through August 4.
•Insuring Growth: The M&A boom has taken the insurance industry by storm. We see more deals ahead in the United States and abroad.
•M&A Roars Back to Life: Here are stocks of likely participants in deals, and funds you can use to play the trend.
•Inflation Retardants for Your Portfolio: REITs, consumer staples, and drug stocks offer a hedge against what appears to be rising inflation.
•Master List Stocks Update: Our three supervised Master List groups of stocks, recommended as core holdings for long-term investors, are regularly featured on these two pages. The Total Return Portfolio, highlighted this week, consists of stocks we like for income.
•Industry Momentum Portfolio: This S&P portfolio identifies industry sectors with potential for above-average price performance. Some of the Companies Featured: Affordable Residential Communities
Allergan
Allied Irish Banks
Alpharma
Aqua America
Baidu.com
Bank of America
Dresser-Rand Group
Duke Energy
Given Imaging
Oshkosh Truck
Pfizer
PMI Group
Powerwave Technologies
Sprint Nextel
STMicroelectronics | 
