Top Tigers: A pair of LSU players earned this week’s SEC football honors for their performance in the Tigers’ 23-21 win over No. 3 South Carolina on Saturday. Defensive end Sam Montgomery, who had three tackles, including two sacks and a forced fumble, was named the conference’s defensive lineman of the week. For his part, running back Jeremy Hill was named the SEC co-freshman of the week. Hill tallied career highs in yards (124) and TDs (2) on 17 carries, and also was the first back to rush for more than 100 yards against South Carolina this season.
Plenty in stock: U.S. companies restocked their shelves at a solid pace in August while sales rose for a second straight month. The combination of higher stockpiles and increased sales should help to boost economic growth. Business inventories grew 0.6% in August following a July gain of 0.8% that had been the strongest since January, the Commerce Department reports today. Sales were up 0.5% in August following a 0.9% rise in July that followed a big drop in June. Total business stockpiles rose to $1.60 trillion—22.4% higher than the low reached in September 2009.
Don’t bank on it: Citigroup isn’t as enthusiastic as its peers about a comeback in the housing market. On Friday, executives at Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase declared that the long-struggling market had turned a corner. But today, Citigroup’s top number-cruncher says he isn’t so sure about that. “I don’t use phrases like ‘turn the corner,’ ” CFO John Gerspach told reporters in a conference call after the bank released its quarterly earnings. Despite a few signs of stabilization in the housing market, he says there are “still some rather significant challenges to be faced.” Read the full story here.
