7 more banks fail as FDIC mulls rules for sales AP FDIC

U.S. Financial Markets Closed In Observance Of Holiday Boom! Fireworks sales still dazzling
Hayashi says U.S. still getting worse MW
A new economic era is dawning
Dollar Heads for Weekly Gain on Concern Global Recession Will Be Prolonged
Third Weekly Decline in S&P 500, Dow Marks Longest Stock Slump Since March
That ’30s Show
Rising Markets See Brighter Times
S&P’s Speculative-Grade Default Rate Reaches High for the Year
Corporate bankruptcies in America: The boom in busts
Tough earnings to come
SEC May Reinstate Rules for Short-Selling Stocks
Ruth Madoff asked to take fur coat
Chart: High-net-worth individuals
Silver Coins Sought UBS
Whatever happened to the food crisis?
‘Rogue broker’ blamed for oil spike
Oil brokerage PVM names rogue trader behind oil spike Reuters
Oil's record high, one year later
Emerging-Markets Share of World Stocks Hits Record; China Tops $3 Trillion
Beijing housing bubble growing, says state media
City-center residential property prices jump 6.5% in one week
China's real estate sales up, prices soar
“The bidders have gone irrational. A bubble in Beijing's property market is definitely there”
Japan's real estate trusts rise from the abyss
Darling: bankers will be 'brought back to earth'
Latvian Banker Taking Souls as Collateral Reuters


'We're in the Middle of a Crash': Black Swan
Obama: Too many jobs lost
U.S. Payrolls Fall More Than Forecast, Unemployment Rises to 9.5% BL BLS
-- Broader Unemployment Rate Hit 16.5% in June WSJ
U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Fell 16,000 to 614,000 Last Week BL
Going With The Flow Contrary Investor
The Trouble with Our Times Is that the Future will Not Be what It used to Be
Faber and Greenspan: Shills for Fed Snake Oil
Taming the Beast CIB Magazine (Xie)
The Fed will probably talk tough on inflation soon and may raise interest rates before the end of the year...
Stimulus packages are just a shuffling of the debt Satyajit Das
Shotgun Marriages Raise Risk of New Bank Blowups
Why I'm Still Bearish Gary Shilling  Bull Market Confirmed Jim Stack
Will Stocks Turn to Gold? Barron’s
Will Stocks Turn to Gold?  Barron’s
Does Bernanke Really Deserve a Second Term?
A Government Failure, Not a Market Failure
The housing bubble was a fully rational response to a set of distortions in the free market—distortions created primarily by the public sector.
Millionaires' springtime optimism wilts: survey
Don't Get Fooled Again
The Fed botched banking regulation once already. So why does Obama want to give it more power?
Physiognomy of Economic Depression
Financial crisis torments states Stateline
4 states closed billions of dollars in budget shortfalls in the last 24 hours, but legislatures and governors in 6 states were still far apart on their budgets...
California: A Dream Decimated WP
Will Banks Demand Discount on California I.O.U.’s? NYTD
-- Arnoldbucks: IOUs for Californians YouTube Video  Dr. HB
California crisis a threat to US economic recovery CS Monitor
Feds could seize Calif. parks if closed by budget AP
If Paul Krugman Were Japanese
He would be a woman named Narika Hama
Manhattan Real Estate Crashes
NY City apartment sales down over 50 percent
Negating the Inflation Potential of the Fed's Lending Programs
Wall Street's giving tips again
Commentary: Time to worry -- they're recommending themselves
Crisis Won’t End Until Balance Sheets Get Real
As of June 30, there were 336 U.S.-listed financial companies trading for less than 60 percent of their book value
GM tells judge that asset sale is its "only option"
GM plans to file for IPO in 2010
GM, Ford suspend production in Russia over crisis
Scrappage incentives revive car demand
Lear preparing to file for bankruptcy protection
Beazer Homes charged with mortgage and accounting fraud
Exelon Raises Hostile Offer for NRG to $7.45 Billion After Premium Shrank
It's Not Just Buffett Buying Utilities
Warren Buffett's money advice: Sleep on it KC Star  YouTube Video
Staffer at SEC Had Warned Of Madoff WP
At least five times over nearly 20 years, the SEC has investigated Madoff's business
Fissures Appear at the New York Fed WSJ
Finding Debt a Bigger Hurdle Than Bar Exam NYT
A Bank Run Teaches the 'Plain People' About the Risks of Modernity WSJ
Some Amish Lived It Up Until Hard Times Hit; Dinners Out and LED-Appointed Carriages
Dennis Kneale Flips Out, Calls Bloggers "Dickweeds"
Commodity Bubble Revisited Puplava
Funds barrel into oil market MW
Big pension and endowment funds that invest in commodities are loading up on crude
China driving oil prices UPI
“People trying to explain rising prices look at the West and see high inventory and low demand, so they blame speculators. They are looking in the wrong place...”
China's bet on spot iron ore makes steel puzzle Reuters
Handful of players seen ruling the solar roost Reuters
A rogue in crude at PVM FTA  Costs firm $10 mln R
After allegedly detecting a large unauthorised Brent ICE position on his book.
ExxonMobil continuing to fund climate sceptic groups, records show Guardian
Sweden's Central Bank Unexpectedly Cuts Key Interest Rate to Record 0.25%
China Allows Yuan Trade Settlement, Offers Tax Breaks to Shift From Dollar
Foreign firms encouraged to list in China
The Chinese economy is stable, but standing on shaky ground
China's cookie crumbling? (Version 2.0)
Rise in Asset Prices: New Challenge for Asian Central Banks
Japan Housewives to Shun Currency Markets on New Rule
Four of the 120 currency margin brokerages in Japan allow clients to trade up to 400 times the amount of their deposits...
Banking system like South Sea bubble, says senior Bank of England official
“Banking became the goose laying the golden eggs. There is no period in recent UK financial history which bears comparison”
Northern Rock losses grow by more than £500m
Malaysian foreign investment plummets in 2009
Ruble Bonds Exceed Dollar Sales for First Time Since '06 as Currency Rises
9.7 trillion yen lost through investment of pension funds
Two more issuers tap markets before Q2 ends
'Korea More Vulnerable to Global Financial Stress'
Electric Vehicles in China - A Long Road Ahead
Russia bans all gambling and shuts casinos
Though gaming establishments knew the shutdown date for at least a year, few thought the government would go through with it


After Call From Senator's Office, Small Hawaii Bank Got U.S. Aid WP
Recession's aftershocks may last for years -  Rosenberg on "Brown Shoots"
Freddie Mac gets added $6.1B from Treasury AP
Freddie Mac has now received $51.7 billion from the Treasury Department and still has access to an additional $149.3 billion to help it finance operations.
Manufacturing in U.S. Shrinks at Slower Pace in Sign Recession Is Easing BL ISM
Construction Spending in U.S. Decreases 0.9%, More Than Forecast for May BL
Pending home sales up 4th straight month in May
Moving Some Chips from Stocks to Treasuries
ADP's job-loss tally: 473,000 MW
"Bon" or "Non" Appétit? Gross
Banks Falling 23% Since May Foreshadow S&P 500 Decline as Builders Weaken
IMF Board Set to Authorize $150 Billion in First Bond Sale, Official Says
Job Losses Lessen, but Recovery Remains Far Off
California Misses Budget Deadline, Readies "IOUs"
The notes will mark the first time in 17 years the most populous U.S. state's government will have to resort to the unusual and dramatic measure.
A Forecast With Hope Built In
There are two possible explanations that the administration was so wrong. And sorting through them matters a great deal...
Obama’s ‘Build America Bonds’ Boondoggle Plan
Maybe the administration thinks reckless borrowing makes sense if it's being done by local governments?
In financial crisis, Obama is more of the same
Too Bernanke To Fail?
There is no practical solution to "too big to fail," and no alternative to the Fed's ability to print money to ease potentially destabilizing financial panics.
Inflation: What You See and What You Don't See
Views on the Economic Crisis
Dude Looks Like a Lady in Our Recessionary Times
Scooping Poop to Mozart Augurs Trough in Housing
De Facto Socialism, 20 Million Vacant Houses and Squattertown, USA
Global systemic crisis in summer 2009: The cumulative impact of three rogue waves
Losing Their Religion
Did Homeowners Cause The Great Recession?
Week-to-week mortgage applications off 18.9%: MBA
Next Segment of the Housing Market to Crash: $1+ Million McMansions
Glitch Inflated Home-Sales Data
Cracked Houses: What the Boom Built
The furious pace of home building from the late 1990s through the first half of the 2000s contributed to a surge in defects...
Financial sector pro-cyclicality: Lessons from the crisis, Part II
Fed's Bullard says must shield Fed independence
Trickle-Down Economics Fails to Deliver as Promised
Higher Taxes for Business Mean We All Pay
Business gets taxed, workers get hurt
General Motors' sale hearing to continue Wednesday
General Motors says China sales up 38 percent
Has G.M. Overextended Its Pension Fund?
What G.M. has done is perfectly legal. Nor is this the first time an employer has used a pension fund to pay for pruning its ranks
Buying That Bank to Get Tougher
Citi raises card rates on millions -  Credit Card Addicted Nation
The Fair-Value Deadbeat Debate Returns
Madoff Insiders' Ignorance Claims Said to Be Focus of U.S. Investigation
Ruth Madoff May Not Be Prosecuted for Ponzi Scheme
Jackson said net worth $236M in 2007
Harvard Layoffs Update, and More "Reshaping" to Come
Gold Coin Demand & Risk
SGE Platinum Rebounds
Gold market commentary by James Turk
Chinese Government Wants To Purchase Another $80 Billion Of Gold!
Ore prices in unknown territory
China's Manufacturing Expands for Fourth Month on Stimulus, Bank Lending
Will China Lead the World Out of Recession? I Still Have My Doubts
Is a China Stock Bubble Forming?
Banks told to steer clear of causing bubbles
UK faces 'reposession timebomb'
Just six families helped by government Mortgage Rescue Scheme
Deeper, longer recession raises fears for the recovery
How German Banks Are Cashing In on the Financial Crisis
Japan Inc. more upbeat for first time since 2006
Japan's average land prices fall for 1st time in 4 years
Japan's Debt Financing Program Carries Risks
India goes QIP crazy
Was former Prime Minister Koizumi the bad guy?
Inflation Growth Slowest in 22 Months
Coping with 'Made in China' Scandals
20p coin sells for £7,100 on eBay

A Wild Ride So Far
lf you went to sleep at the end of 2008 and just woke up today, you'd see the S&P 500 up 1.78% for the year and probably assume it's been a pretty boring six months in the market.
It’s The Second Half -- So Where’s The Recovery?