A day after the triple-digit rally, Wall Street paused for a breather as investors decided to book profits on a light trading day.  The markets opened lower and then swung between gains and losses amid prevailing caution after a series of disappointing results.  The Dow, nevertheless, managed to tack on 20 points for its fifth straight session gain.

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index shed 0.01%, to 1,093.01 and the technology-laden Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 2.98 points, or 0.14%, to close at 2,151.08.  On the New York Stock Exchange, three stocks declined in price for every two that rose.  Volume was light as only 990 million shares exchanged hands.

Record low interest rates and a sliding dollar have helped stocks in recent months as investors have taken their focus away from some of the persistent worries of the economy.  Also, with the Federal Reserve continuing its highly accommodative monetary

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U.S. stocks surged Monday, with the Dow Jones industrial average storming to its highest level in more than 13 months as finance ministers from the Group of 20 industrialized nations pledged to continue economic stimulus measures to help the global economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average, which was well supported by strength in its all but one component, rose 203 points, or 2.0%, to a 13-month high of 10,227.  The S&P500 climbed 2.2% for its sixth straight session gain to 1093 and the tech-heavy NASDAQ gained 2.0% to close at 2154.  The market’s measure of volatility, the CBOE Vix, plunged 4.3% to 23.15.

All ten S&P500 industry groups ended in the green, led by gains in basic material shares (+3.5%) and financials (+3.5%).  Crude prices added $2.00 to close at $79.43 even as Hurricane Ida was downgraded to a tropical storm.  Gold prices went past the $1100 level, up

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This post provides links to a number of interesting articles I have read over the past few days that you may also enjoy.

• Mohamed El-Erian and Ramin Toloui (Financial Times): How to fill the gaps left by dollar decline, November 5, 2009. We should expect to see more discussion in the next few years on new types of reserve assets.

• James West (GoldSeek): Gold price is no bubble, November 4, 2009. The price performance of gold recently has all sorts of armchair economists waxing philosophical on the idea that this is the advent of a price “bubble”. While certainly everyone has and is entitled to their opinion, there are other features of humanity that we all possess, and much like many opinions, are best obscured from view. Declaring that gold is in a “bubble” demonstrates complete ignorance of or disregard for

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Pandora’s Box of rate hikes is opened! Is the dollar being removed from oil trades? Deficits do matter, eh? Gold heads toward its all-time high…And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Terrific Tuesday to you! A Tuesday morning that is seeing a HUGE currency rally VS the dollar on the news that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) opted to go ahead and hike rates now, and not wait for November’s meeting,

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Chinese stocks rise 5%! Risk Assets follow! OECD forecasts faster global rowth…Gold & Silver kicking sand again! And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Tub Thumpin’ Thursday to you! Let’s hope it remains a Tub Thumpin’ Thursday later today, as I head downtown to watch my beloved Cardinals play a day game! For those of you who are baseball fans, you know what I mean when I carry on about how baseball should only be played during the day!

OK… Before I get to the currencies, economies and the dolts in the world, I wanted to briefly talk

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Though this paper bears a date of "June 2009," I have just now come across it.  Stanislav Secrieru of the excellent Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) has a piece which considers whether or not the economic crisis and lower oil prices will motivate Russia to scale back its more aggressive foreign policy ambitions.  Secrieru envisions two scenarios:  one in which a more compliant Kremlin seeks to bridge the gap with the West, or second, that things remain the same with Russia maintaining its normative independence in foreign policy making.Below is a quote, download the 10-page paper here:

Rationalists argue that power capabilities define the actors' foreign policy goals. Accordingly, they assume that a decline in state resources will compel Russia to scale down its international ambitions. There are expectations that, as the crisis strikes with full force, ...

Gold pushed steadily higher from the far East through to the New York open on Tuesday, but the $939 peak was the high for the day as it sold off in fits and starts to just after noon, before regaining some lost ground over the final hours to close at $934.80/oz., up $6.80. Overnight, gold has fallen off. Platinum moved slowly higher, to $1230 just before noon, but got taken down from there to end at $1216/oz., up $11. Overnight, platinum is sharply lower.

Silver had a series of gentle undulations between $14.10 and $14.40 and, though it closed nearer the lower end, was still in positive territory at $14.18/oz., up 16 cents. Overnight, silver is trending lower. (Click here for charts)

With the dollar off a bit and oil slightly lower, one might have expected the precious metals to turn in a blah day, and that’s about what

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Rice rationing redux?  Chris Mayer on the return of rising food prices… Dan Amoss on what the Fed says versus what the Fed does… Russia sings dollar’s praises, dollar bulls stampede… Chuck Butler looks past the rhetoric… China’s latest resource grab… Iraqi oil… America’s best-selling car… with an MSRP of $60…

We begin a new week pondering the question that bedevils the conscientious market observer every day.Inflation? Deflation? Or as Agora founder Bill Bonner is wont to suggest, both?

“Inflation – rising prices, or a drop in the purchasing power of the dollar – will soon rise to the very top of economic concerns,” writes Chris Mayer. “I can’t understand why there are pundits who insist we can’t have inflation while the economy is weak. There are plenty of examples of weak economies with high inflation. After all, I don’t think they are hitting on

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The predictions of the members of the Barron’s mid-year Roundtable discussion over the weekend were in agreement that the March lows of the stock markets would not be broken. This reminded me of one of the famous “Investment Rules” of Bob Farrell, legendary former chief stock market analyst at Merrill Lynch. Rule # 9 stated: “When all the experts and forecasts agree, something else is going to happen.”

Meanwhile, many stock markets yesterday registered their worst single-session percentage losses in a month. Commodities also faced heavy profit-taking, but government bonds rallied and the US dollar strengthened against a basket of currencies. “We could be seeing one of those occasional all-change signals in short-term trends,” said David Fuller (Fullermoney).

Richard Russell, veteran writer of the daily Dow Theory Letters, commented on Monday: “I’m of the opinion that this bear market rally is in the

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Top financial officials from the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations on Friday issued an upbeat evaluation of the global financial crisis, describing signs that markets were stabilizing around the world and warning that it was necessary to devise “exit strategies” to disengage from stimulus programs that have been put in place.

The G8 met for two days in Lecce, Italy. Eight world finance ministers – including U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, and his global counterparts from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia – also agreed to create “a set of common principles and standards governing the conduct of international business and finance,”The Washington Post reported.

In a communiqué called “the Lecce Framework” – which described the strategy for obtaining those goals – the finance ministers called on government leaders to fill in the regulatory gaps that led to the global financial crisis, including

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