NEW YORK (Fortune) -- So Boom, that was it! The summer of 2006 now gone...okay you get to create some memories this weekend, but up in the Northeast, it feels over with the weather and all. See you kids when school starts!

FORD: Auto sales for August are due out today. And forecasters say that more bad news is in store for Ford (Charts). Word is that sales at the now Number 3 North American auto company (after GM (Charts) and Toyota (Charts)) will be down. But some on Wall Street seem to be seeing some positive signs. Ford's bonds have staged their biggest rally since January, climbing 5 percent in August on speculation that Ford will sell assets. By one measure the riskiness of the bonds declined too, according to Bloomberg. This is important because bond investors are sometimes said to be more on the ball than stockholders, though in fact the stock has rallied from the low $6s a few months back to $8.37 yesterday. You could make some money here, but it's for mad money, a flier.

DIAGEO: This stock has outperformed the market since 1998, over the past five years, two years, you name it. The British liquor company trades on the NYSE, ticker DEO (Charts). Its brands include: Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker, Guinness stout, Baileys Original Irish Cream liqueur, J&B , Captain Morgan (Argh!), and Tanqueray. Fill your dang liquor cabinet right up. Now here's the thing, company reported yesterday that yearly sales were up 8 percent, and profits climbed 22 percent. The stock is not that expensive, maybe because there are those who won't own a liquor stock. Personally I don't see that as a problem. Up to you, but I bet the stock works over the next five years too.

VF: This is the jeans company ... owns every brand there is it seems except for Levi's. Check it out: Lee, Wrangler, Riders, Rustler, Vanity Fair, Vassarette, Bestform, Lily of France, Nautica, Earl Jean, John Varvatos, JanSport, Eastpak, The North Face, Vans, Napapijri, Kipling, Lee Sport, and Red Kap. Whew! Fill your dang closet right up! Ticker VFC (Charts). Based in Greensboro, NC (wonder if they're NC State fans?) VF is doing a JV, (love that!), as in a joint venture, with an Indian company to market jeans globally. I was surprised at how well the stock has done, doubled over the past five years ... beating up on the stock market. And it has a P/E of only 14. Obviously a very tough business, but VF seems to be doin' it to it!

LOOSE CHANGE: Yo, watched the MTV Video Music Awards last night. People say it was boring ... I don't know. I kinda dug it. Sports from Ace producer Paul Amin: USA Basketball misses out on gold again. Greece has no current NBA players. USA couldn't make 3-pointers, couldn't stop Greece from making them...

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E-mail Andy Serwer at serwer@fortunemail.com

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