The! Biggest! News! of! the! Day! - Not the CPI, Home Depot Miss, or Wal-Mart Warning

Here are some of the contenders for today's biggest...news...of...the...day...

• Data on inflation from the CPI report...the overall CPI came in at +0.4% while the core CPI showed a 0.2% gain, matching forecasts...stock futures bounced on the news and the S&Ps are now suggesting a small upside bias...
• Earnings from Home Depot (HD)...the home-improvement chain posted weaker-than-expected earnings, missing by 6 cents, "blaming the faltering U.S. housing market as well as unusual weather, and forecast a weak home-improvement market for the rest of the year"...
• Earnings from Wal-Mart Stores (WMT)...the retail chain posted results that matched expectation but the company "warned that second quarter results would come in at or below forecasts"...
• Confirmation of the merger between Thomson and Reuters (RTRSY)...

While those are all stories worth watching, I think it is obviously clear that the biggest story today is not one, but a collection that highlight some serious concerns I have about humanity...

• Man accused of robbery leaves wallet
• Alleged burglar nabbed twice in 24 hours
• Teen hurt whacking bullets with hammer

The title of the first article offers everything you need to know about that story. The second tells the sad explanation of how "A 23-year-old man was arrested for burglary Friday night just 15 hours following his release from jail for two other burglaries". The last mind-boggling article recounts how the 18 year old was "discharging .223-caliber rounds, placing them in a steel vise, putting a screwdriver on the primer, and striking the screwdriver with the hammer". Yes, that is really what it says...

Perhaps the most ill-conceived part of the teenagers plan was that "he was trying to empty the rounds to collect the brass casings for scrap" which go for "$1.70 a pound"...the article says he had "just a few pounds"...