Here are the (lightly edited) bits I found interesting in this week’s issue:

“Crude oil futures spiked to a record high of $75.40 a barrel last Wednesday, eclipsing the previous high of $75.35 a barrel hit in April … the average income of the top 5% of wage earners has nearly doubled from 1979 to 2004, while that of the bottom 60% has inched up just 20% over that time period” — Robin Blumenthal

“GM workers get close to $40 an hour more than workers at the North American plants owned by Toyota and Honda.” — Jay Palmer

“Merck KGaA, the German pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturer, enjoys a near monopoly in supplying the liquid-crystal gunk that makes an LCD work. The company has a 70% market share worldwide and a nearly 100% share of the largest LCD televisions. Although the liquid-crystal business accounts for only about 15% of revenues, liquid crystals contribute nearly 50% of operating profits.” — Bill Alpert

“The 7,468 U.S. diversified equity funds tracked by Lipper declined 3.26%, on average, in the second quarter … The 2,144 world equity funds tracked by Lipper lost 1.6% last quarter, as the 21 Latin American funds slid 3.36%, and the 219 emerging-markets funds slumped 5% … The 2,758 domestic long-term fixed-income funds tracked by Lipper dipped only 0.02% in the quarter.” — Angela Pruitt

“The number of individuals with financial assets of more than $30 million last year increased by more than 10% worldwide, to 85,400 … Maintenance and taxes on a 15-room place on the 79th floor of the Time Warner Center in Manhattan come to $80,000 a month. (The property recently sold for $32 million.)” — Robin Blumenthal

“Japan accounts for almost 40% of global purchases of luxury goods … Japan represents 30% of Louis Vuitton’s annual sales and 22% of Coach’s sales.” — Jay Alabaster

“In 2005, five hurricanes — Katrina, Wilma, Rita, Ophelia and Dennis — caused $58.7 billion in damage in nine states. Katrina, which devastated New Orleans, was responsible for $38.1 billion, or 65%, of that total.” — Jim McTague

“The average mutual fund turns over its portfolio by more than 100% a year… Turnover at some big, established funds can even exceed 200%. All that turnover takes a toll on performance and, of course, creates tax liabilities … Fidelity manages more than 20 large-cap growth funds. What’s the point of this slicing and dicing, except to accumulate assets? … The late Bill Ruane, who had been head of the Sequoia Fund, concluded years ago that thoughtful investing meant three things: a small portfolio (20 stocks at most), low turnover and ‘eating your own cooking,’ meaning that the managers invest substantial personal money not just in the management company but in the funds themselves.” — Louis Lowenstein

“In 2001, President George W. Bush banned federal funding for research on all human embryonic stem-cell lines not then in existence … There are now 31 state laws either allowing or prohibiting human embryonic stem-cell research … Estimates vary about how many U.S. lawmakers have college degrees in biology subjects: Less than 1% to very much less than 1% … Connecticut, New Jersey and California have laws that actively support human embryonic stem-cell research with state funding. California voters, in fact, approved a $3 billion bond issue to support this research, but it is trapped in court by such groups as Focus on the Family and the Life Legal Defense Foundation … foreign scientists in this specialty have no reason to come to the U.S., and that U.S. scientists have little reason to make human embryonic stem cells a focus of their research.” — Ingrid Eisenstadter

“What’s worse than annihilation? We don’t know, but Dick Cheney’s working on it.” — Alan Abelson

“Phelps Dodge said it expects copper to slip from an average $2.85 a pound to $2.25 next year and $1.75 in 2008. It also expects nickel producer prices to drop from $8.25 this year to $7.60 next year and $6.20 in 2008.” — Kopin Tan

“Dodge & Cox has boosted its asset base to $180 billion from $10 billion at the end of 1999. Dimensional Fund Advisors has tripled in size over the same stretch, to $100 billion in assets, while GMO, the former Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo, has grown to $122 billion from $20 billion … Fidelity earned $1.3 billion on $11 billion in revenue last year … Looking at Dodge & Cox, American, Davis Advisors and Southeastern, one common denominator is low portfolio turnover… At Dodge & Cox, the annual turnover is less than 15%, meaning the average stock is held seven to eight years, versus one year in the typical mutual fund… Dodge & Cox is unusual in having just four funds, with $110 billion in assets — plus another $70 billion of institutional money … Capital Group’s American funds now are attracting more than 20% of all industry inflows, and seven of the largest 10 funds are from the American family.” — Andrew Bary

“The cycles are very long for these commodities. It takes seven years or more to build a new greenfield copper mine. It takes up to seven or more years to develop a deepwater offshore oil field, like those off Angola. For a liquefied natural-gas project, it can take 10 or more years … China has turned from a net exporter into an importer of corn … there has been a toe-to-toe match between the potash industry and the Chinese, who want no price increase … In iron ore the biggest buyer on the open market is China. The producers increased the price last year 71½%. They just negotiated an increase this year of another 19%.” — Charlie Ober, interviewed by Jonathan Laing

Copyright © 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.