Article Source I see much to like about this. From the New York Times: the Bush administration will ask Congress to approve a rescue package that would give the government the authority to buy billions of dollars in stock in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and also lend to the companies to meet their short-term funding needs.... Separately, the Federal Reserve voted on Sunday to also open a lending facility for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, if they need emergency capital. The two companies would be able to post their own securities as collateral. The plan calls on Congress to give the government the authority over the next two years to buy an unspecified amount of stock in the two companies. Over the same period of time, it would permit the companies to have greater access to the Treasury, by expanding the credit line that each company has from the Treasury. Each ...

Gene Marcial, Business Week’s stock-picking guru, recommended Exxon Mobil (XOM) on 6/3/08:

a. It has been piling up billions upon billions of dollars each year in eye-popping profits.

b.The real story here is why Exxon Mobil is a must-own for long-term investors.

c. You can’t expect spectacular returns going forward, but predictable profitability is attractive in a volatile market.

d. According to Marcial, the company is still very much undervalued.

e. The stock now trades at just 10 times 2008 estimated earnings of $9 a share. That is about in line with, or less than, its smaller peers.

f. The company’s return on equity went to 34.5% last year from 26% in 2006. And dividend growth is at a yearly clip of 9.1%, with the shares yielding 1.7%. Exxon Mobil bought back about $8 billion of its stock in the first quarter of 2008.

g. oil and gas production accounted for only 7.3% of revenues

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Too severe, or not too severe; that is the question.

I’m talking about the U.S. recession that we’re already in, about to be in, or hoping to avoid.

At this point it depends a lot on how you approach the subject, but assuming for a moment that recession is inevitable, analysts and economists are asking: How much will growth contract? Can Mr. U.S. consumer muddle through, or will he stumble and fall? And how much have financial markets already discounted an official recession?

Today, I’ll answer these questions and tell you what to expect in the currency markets, namely the U.S. dollar. First, let’s address …

HOW to Identify a Recession

Unfortunately, pinpointing the magnitude and velocity of a recession before it has ended isn’t as easy as measuring the change in …