September 15th, 2008, a day that will live in infamy. Famous words, much the same, made in 1941 by our President Franklin D. Roosevelt. As the one year anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse approaches, I find myself looking at the economic picture and wondering if we really dodged a bullet or if we traded in our single shot rifle pointed at our head for an semi automatic? Did we really just blow up the asteroid, on a crash collision with Earth, or just shatter it into a million more deadly pieces? Our government, Treasury and Federal Reserve all claim we have averted disaster, apparently the recession is over. I would be thrilled to believe this, I truly would, but let us look at the facts.

As I look over my notes and calculations I find some interesting issues and facts popping up. For instance, would it surprise any of you …

The BIG FIVE TRENDS Video

In my new, short five minute video, I analyze the major trends in what I call the big five. We’ll be looking at the DOW (INDEX_DJI), the Dollar index (NYBOT_DX), crude oil (NYMEX_CL.J09.E), gold (FOREX_XAUUSDO), and the CRB index (NYBOT_CR).

I will show you step-by-step how to analyze each of these markets quickly to get the trend.

Once you discover this simple approach, you’ll be amazed at just how accurate it is over time.

This is one of my most important videos and I want you to be able to see it without having to register or pay a fee to watch it. I honestly believe that my new video can make a world of difference to how you approach the markets in the future.

Every success and enjoy the video.

Adam Hewison
President, INO.com
Co-creator, MarketClub

The new narrative forming among the Goldilocks crowd is that US economic supremacy reigns once again, as manifest in a reawakened "King Dollar". The US dollar will continue to strengthen, commodity prices will plummet, and the stock market can only rally from here since all of the bad news has already been discounted. Continue reading

By Peter D. Schiff Guest Columnist Last week the U.S. Federal Reserve moved one step closer to acknowledging reality. Unfortunately, it didn’t let that admission move it from a policy course firmly guided by fantasy - meaning the central bank opted to stand pat on interest rates, despite the clear escalation of inflationary pressures. In the policy statement that accompanied that decision last week, Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and the other members of the interest-rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) took an important step in noting that inflationary concerns had taken hold in the country at large. But as it asserted that it expects inflation to moderate this year and next, the Fed gave no indication that these heightened expectations are gaining traction within the FOMC itself. As a result - with Richard Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, ...

By Jennifer Yousfi Managing Editor Higher oil could lead to a worldwide economic collapse, according to a top analyst at Germany’s largest bank. "Two-hundred dollar oil would break the back of the global economy," Adam Sieminski, chief energy economist at Deutsche Bank AG (DB), told Bloomberg News in an interview yesterday (Wednesday) in Tokyo. "Next step after $200 would be global recession and bad news for everybody." Story continues below… Sign up right now, and we’ll send you an important new report for free: “The Three Best Investments in Asia.” ...

Fellow Stockmasters, passing on yet another article from CNN Money about a possible top in oil: Stable dollar could reverse oil run It looks increasingly likely the Fed is through cutting rates - and that argues for a strengthening greenback and an end to surging oil prices. Oil's relentless rise has been a major concern for investors and consumers. But is the worst over regarding the spike in energy prices? Crude was trading at one point this morning at about $125.33 a barrel, down 7% from the $135.09 record price hit on May 22. But the price of oil rebounded to around $129 later ...

Today we are going to be analyzing the U.S. Dollar Index.

Before we go any further, let’s take a look at what makes up the U.S. Dollar Index. The U.S. Dollar Index is a basket that consists of six foreign currencies. These are the Euro, the Yen, the Cable, the Loonie, the Krona, and the Franc. The index is made up of six currencies, but it includes seventeen countries. Japan, Great Britain, Canada, Sweden, and Switzerland are added to the twelve members of the European Union whom represent the Euro. These seventeen countries may only be a small percentage of the countries in the world, but there are many other currencies that follow the U.S. Dollar Index closely. The index is a great tool for measuring the global strength of the United States Dollar.

The components of the U. S. Dollar Index have a geometric weighted average. This is to factor in …