Maybe Bernanke really does have some clout: ever since Monday, when Bernanke engaged in unusual jawboning in support of the dollar, the dollar has stabilized and is even in a mild uptrend.    Read More

President Obama took his declining dollar to the Asia-Pacific economic conference, and he added to it a declinist opinion of America’s economy. His big message? Don’t count on American consumers to lead the world from recession to recovery and beyond. His second big message? In the U.S., we must save more and spend less.    Read More

Welcome to the retail mind game: Both Target and Saks gave cautious guidance on holiday sales.    Read More

"For the ancient Greeks it was the three fates that spun the destiny of life, measuring and finally cutting it short. Now, highlighted by events of the past few days, the unmistakable hands of reserve currency, monetary, and fiscal fates can be seen in the dollar’s latest unraveling," writes author Charles Goyette.   Read More

In U.S. President Barack Obama's speech to Asia-Pacific leaders at the APEC Summit in Singapore over the weekend, he highlighted the importance of a strong China economy in the context of global growth.   Read More

US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has been hitting the air waves and the editorial page during his trip to the APEC conference in Singapore. From Bloomberg to CNBC, Geithner has been consistent in stating that it's very important the US maintain a strong dollar. However, he is advocating the opposite for the Asia-Pacific nations.    Read More

This weekend, the US House of Representatives passed its version of health care reform and now awaits a version from the Senate.  The debate has been heating up since earlier this summer when President Obama was pushing for legislation before the summer recess.  Here are the biggest S&P Health Care gainers and losers over while the debate has waged on.   Read More

It appears that Washington is about to enact sweeping legislation that will be the greatest shift in public policy in decades. Yes, we can bemoan the lack of a completely private enterprise driven system but the reality is Big Brother is here and he's not going away. Without a doubt there will be implications for investors that need to be considered; and it's not all bad news from an investment perspective.   Read More

The headline number of 10.2% will be shouted from the mountain tops and from the voters. The Federal Reserve and the US Treasury are in the glare of the klieg lights to get something done to arrest the job losses.    Read More

Stocks at their highest level in 6 trading sessions....what's up? It's simple: the economic data continues to improve.    Read More