The Internet, and the prospect of demand for interactive services, gives the cable companies an advantage over both satellite television and the telecoms companies.

ECONOMIST: Hot wires

As well as dearer funding and lower leverage, the investment banks face the prospect of weakened demand for their services.

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For everyone else, there is the dangerous prospect of the TouchPad fire sale soaking up any demand for non-iPad tablets.

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However, with the strong gains already clocked by investors this year, some stock strategists were moving in the opposite direction, raising warning flags about the prospect for future gains on a day when demand for Treasurys rose, nudging the yield on the benchmark 10-year note down to 1.95%.

WSJ: Stocks Push Higher

But the prospect of Chinese economic officials tightening monetary policy has negative demand implications for raw commodities, including the precious metals.

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It might seem the perfect storm: the prospect of less reliable harvests, a growing world population and demand for food projected by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization to rise 70% by mid-century.

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For that, it needs clearer evidence of a slowdown in demand, or the prospect that a further plunge in the stockmarket might threaten to choke future spending.

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