After a two-day “holiday” to start the week–Martin Luther King Day today (Monday) and Inauguration Day tomorrow (Tuesday)–it’ll be back to business on Wednesday as Congress begins to grill U.S. Treasury Secretary nominee Timothy Geithner – the appointment many observers believe to be the most important of the new Barack Obama administration.

Geithner, currently the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, is viewed by Democrats and Republicans alike as probably the most qualified candidate to succeed current Treasury Secretary Henry M. “Hank” Paulson Jr., since whoever fills this post will have to be able to step right in and make whatever moves are needed to fix a financial system that seems to get worse by the week. Geithner is actually viewed as perhaps the one candidate with the qualifications, personality and personality needed for success.

But there’s a problem.  The man chosen by President-elect Obama

...

Investors are breathing a sigh of relief that 2008 is over, but they shouldn’t get too comfortable. After all, with a worldwide recession under way, investors can expect acceleration in corporate bankruptcies in 2009.

But the question is - which ones?

In the financial services sector, 2008 was a year of spectacular failures:

Bear Stearns Cos. and Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. were absorbed by JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Bank of America (BAC), respectively. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (OTC: LEHMQ) filed for bankruptcy protection. And financial-sector giants American International Group Inc. (AIG) and Citigroup Inc. (C) were both bailed ...

Mid-East Violence Drives Crude Higher; IndyMac to be Sold by Year’s end; Retailers in for Tough Start to 2009; Six-month Treasury Rate Hits Record Low; Commercial Banks Report $6 Billion in 3Q Revenue

Crude prices rose back above $40 a barrel yesterday (Monday), as Israel and Palestinian forces exchanged fire and casualties mounted in the region. Light, sweet crude for February delivery rose $2.31 cents to settle at $40.02 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. A group of investment firms that includes J.C. Flowers & Co., Dune Capital Management, and Paulson & Co., is set to purchase IndyMac Bank, one of the nation’s largest failed banks, from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) according to CNNMoney. Neither the FDIC nor any of ...

Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) is thriving as recession grips the economy. As a cost leader in the retail sector, the company is benefiting from an increase in thrift. And it continues to expand its operations overseas. Horacio Marquez says Wal-Mart should emerge stronger than ever from this crisis, making it an essential part of any stock portfolio.

This frm Money Morning:

In an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Chief Executive Officer H. Lee Scott Jr. said the recession is changing consumer-buying habits.

What Scott didn’t say is that Wal-Mart is perfectly positioned to capitalize on those changes. “The No.1 issue today is [consumers'] concern about their job,” Scott said during the nationally televised interview. And because of that concern, Scott said consumers are making some of the following changes:

In the discounter’s “pharmacy ...

Dragged down by plunging gasoline prices and an auto industry struggling for survival, retail sales fell by 1.8% in November for a record fifth straight month, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.

But a historic drop in retail gasoline prices and auto sales may have exaggerated the decline.  Filling-station sales mirrored the recent drop in prices from $4 a gallon in July to less than $2 a gallon recently. Auto sales fell 2.8%, confirming automakers’ assertions that business had sunk to the lowest levels in decades.

Excluding gasoline, which fell by almost 15%, retail sales fell just 0.2%.

In fact, without sales of autos, gasoline and building materials, sales actually rose 0.5%, the most since May.

“The financial markets were braced for a horrific retail sales report for November, but the numbers were actually not so bad,” Mark Vitner, a senior economist for Wachovia Corp. (

...

Retail experts are predicting one of the most dismal holiday shopping seasons in decades this year – a crucial stretch that will set the stage for poor retail sales throughout 2009.

As the U.S. economy decelerates, pummeled by the aftershocks of the worldwide financial crisis, consumers have been hit from every direction: Unemployment has spiked, and will continue to rise, economy unwinds and continues to work through the aftershocks of the global credit crisis, consumers have been beset on all sides. Unemployment is up, home prices are down, and credit is hard to come by.

And although inflation is beginning to moderate somewhat – slowing to a pace of 3.7% year-over-year in October – it’s still well above the U.S. Federal Reserve’s desired target rate of 2.0%.

With rampant inflation no longer artificially propping up consumer spending figures, retail sales have really started to lose their

...

GMAC Files to Become a Bank; Unemployment Nears 26-Year High; Mogul Signals Interest in Circuit City; Banco do Brasil Buying Out Rival; Crude Continues Slide; JPMorgan Cuts 3,000 jobs; Stock Market Craters.

Detroit-based finance company GMAC has filed to become a bank, a shot at getting a slice of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program bailout. Private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP owns 51% of GMAC. General Motors Corp. (GM) owns the other 49%, Reuters reported. Initial jobless claims climbed to 542,000 in the week ended Nov. 15, close to a 26-year high. “The economic contraction appears to be worsening,” Sal Guatieri, a senior ...

HP Beats 4Q Forecasts; Carrefour Milks New CEO From Nestle; InBev Officially Closes Anheuser Buy; Home Depot Beats 3Q Estimate; Gulf Bank Loses $1.4 Billion; Mexican Tycoon Interested in Circuit City; Wholesale Prices Plummet

Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), the world’s largest maker of personal computers, offered a preview of its fiscal fourth-quarter profits – reporting that it will beat market expectations and raise its fiscal 2009 outlook. “HP is gaining market share in an extremely strong competitive position. They’ve got share gains, combined with very aggressive cost reduction,” Shannon Cross of Cross Research told Reuters. Lars Olofsson, Executive Vice President of Nestle SA, has been named Chief Executive Officer of Carrefour S.A., the world’s second-largest retailer. He’ll ...

This week is shaping up to be another active one on the bailout-and-financing front. First and foremost, Congress returns to work this week to consider a once-unthinkable proposal: Put up billions in taxpayer-backed loans so that Detroit’s “Big Three” can be saved. Expect a fight, however, as the bailout debate finally moves past banks to focus on General Motors Corp. (GM), Ford Motor Co. (F), and Chrysler Corp.

The situation is dire. GM is burning through cash at a pace that could mean bankruptcy, and all three players are struggling with high costs, weak vehicle sales, frozen credit lines and dwindling cash reserves calling into question whether they can survive much longer without government help. The answer, of course, is that they probably can’t.

But it’s here that the debate turns political, the Detroit Free Press reports. Congressional Democrats are pushing for some form

...

Circuit City Stores Inc. (CC) has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a week after the struggling electronics retailer announced it would close 155 of its 566 U.S. stores by Dec. 31 and slash its workforce by 17%.

“The decision to restructure the business through a Chapter 11 filing should provide us with the opportunity to strengthen our balance sheet, create a more efficient expense structure and ultimately position the company to compete more effectively,” James A. Marcum, vice chairman and acting president and chief executive officer, said yesterday (Monday) in a statement.

In the past year and a half, Circuit City has created nothing but a collection of ugly headlines. The Richmond, VA-based Circuit City has $3.4 billion in assets and $2.32 billion in liabilities, including a $119 million debt to Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) and a $116 million debt to Samsung Electronics Co.,

...