In sports, championship-caliber teams all have at least one characteristic in common: They’re able to focus on the fundamentals.

With the U.S. unemployment rate jumping to its highest level  in a quarter century in February, it’s become abundantly clear that that the U.S. recession is much deeper than President Barack Obama anticipated, meaning it’s likely that additional measures will be undertaken to arrest the slide and restart growth.

Many experts are now calling for the Obama administration to focus on the fundamentals – fundamental economics, that is. They want him to drop some of its ancillary pet projects – such as healthcare reform – and are telling President Obama to focus all his time and the government’s resources on three things:

Arresting the economy’s slide. Hastening its subsequent rebound. And fixing the U.S. banking system.

A focus on anything else is just a diversion and is a waste of time – especially because  there are

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In sports, championship-caliber teams all have at least one characteristic in common: They’re able to focus on the fundamentals. With the U.S. unemployment rate jumping to its highest level  in a quarter century in February, it’s become abundantly clear that that the U.S. recession is much deeper than President Barack Obama anticipated, meaning it’s likely that additional measures will be undertaken to arrest the slide and restart growth. Many experts are now calling for the Obama administration to focus on the fundamentals – fundamental economics, that is. They want him to drop some of its ancillary pet projects – such as healthcare reform – and are telling President Obama to focus all his time and the government’s resources on three things: Arresting the economy’s slide. Hastening its subsequent rebound. And fixing the U.S. banking system. A focus on anything else is just a diversion and is a ...

Gold didn’t do much in Far East trading until later in the day in Hong Kong. A small rally started that got hit shortly after London opened. Every little rally attempt [including the little one in Hong Kong] got sold off by some not-for-profit seller before it could develop any legs to the upside. The top in the gold price was at the London open…and the low of the day was at the London close. From the London close, gold rallied about $15 right into the close of electronic trading on the Globex at 5:15 in New York.

Silver, which I mentioned yesterday was the metal that the bullion banks are really after, got it in the neck again. It traded exactly the same as gold through Far East trading…smallish rally into the London open…hit for 30 cents…and then proceeded to trade sideways until the London p.m. gold fix. From that

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