Kenneth D. Lewis There are many ways to view Kenneth Lewis’ eight-year reign as Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) chief executive, but two seem to hold the most landscape.

On one hand, the $130 billion he spent on acquisitions – FleetBoston Financial Corp., MBNA Corp., LaSalle Bank Corp., Countrywide Financial Corp., Charles Schwab Corp.’s (Nasdaq: SCHW) U.S. Trust private banking unit and Merrill Lynch – that more than tripled the size of Bank of America, making it the largest U.S. lender both by assets and deposits.

On the other, his open-wallet policy and the example it set forth almost perfectly encapsulates the boom, bust and nascent rebound of the U.S. housing and banking crisis – which later became the financial plague that devastated markets all over the world.

In the second half of 2007, the extent of the U.S. housing crisis began to crystallize when Countrywide’s freewheeling

While prices of gold don’t necessarily affect silver prices or vice versa, history has demonstrated that when gold rises or falls, silver usually follows suit.

This time around, silver has failed to match the gains that gold posted in recent months, spawning a widespread believe that silver is poised for a bull run. Such factors as a decline in supply and a weakening U.S. dollar have buttressed that bullish belief. And so has the fact that China’s government is strongly encouraging that country’s residents to buy the white metal.

With Beijing’s plan to inject $587 billion (4 trillion yuan) into China’s economy, and a growing desire to diversify away from the U.S. dollar as its key reserve currency, the Asian giant could increase its reliance on such precious metals as gold and silver – especially if global inflation takes hold.

China’s central bank “could use gold, silver or even a basket of

With prices testing their record high of $1,033 an ounce set last year gold has again become the hot topic of conversation.

But while many analysts are focusing on threat of inflation – which could be a byproduct of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s reluctance to withdraw monetary stimulus – investors should really be watching China.

“In the post-financial crisis global economy, China is quickly becoming the proverbial ‘800-pound gorilla’ – the player that has to be courted, but that can’t be tamed,” said Money Morning Contributing Editor Peter Krauth.

In a recent article for Money Morning, Krauth said that he believes the stage has been set for gold to make a lasting run above $1,000 an ounce, in no small part because of China.

For the past six years China has quietly been stocking up on gold, boosting its holdings of the yellow metal to 1,054 metric tons from 400

[Editor’s Note: If you’re new to the commodities-investing arena, and are uncertain about the landscape – or even if you’re an “old hand” at natural-resource stocks, but want some insights into the new profit plays and new players – consider hiring a guide: Money Morning Contributing Editor Peter Krauth, a recognized expert in metals, mining and energy stocks, is also the editor of the Global Resource Alert trading service, which ferrets out companies poised to profit from the so-called “Secular Bull Market” in commodities. A former portfolio advisor, Krauth continues to work out of resource-rich Canada, which keeps him close to most of the companies he researches. Against the growing global financial malaise, Krauth says that commodities are among the most-profitable and least-risky investments available, and notes that this may well be the most powerful bull market for commodities we’ll see in our …

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Yesterday’s Sept. 1 Downer For Stocks Darkens the Outlook in an Already Bleak Month For Investors

When it comes to U.S. stocks, the first trading day of September typically sets the tone for the rest of the month.

And with share prices having hit a sour note yesterday (Tuesday), investors probably shouldn’t anticipate a positive showing for the rest of September.

U.S. stocks nose-dived yesterday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunging 185.68 points, or 2%, to close at 9,310.60 – the biggest hit that blue-chip index has taken in two weeks. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 22.58 …

Thanks to his market insights, Money Morning’s Martin Hutchinson has made the national news again.

When economics author George Melloan penned a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece detailing the shortcomings of U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s so-called stimulus “exit strategy,” he cited an argument made by Money Morning Contributing Editor Martin Hutchinson as part of his proof.

In a story in yesterday’s (Tuesday’s) edition that carried the headline “Bernanke’s Exit Dilemma,” Melloan, The Journal’s former deputy editorial page editor, concluded that “there are very good reasons to doubt that the Fed can cope with the political problems of avoiding inflation. The technical problems don’t look very easy, either.”

Melloan knows his topic well. After all, he’s just finished a book on the topic – “The Great Money Binge: Spending Our Way to Socialism” – that’s scheduled to appear in stores in mid-November.

But in his op-ed piece, Melloan cites the …

Has the massive Obama stimulus plan put us on a collision course with virulent inflation?

It sure looks that way.

Let me explain …

When the U.S. Commerce Department on Friday said the U.S. economy contracted at a 1% annual pace in the second quarter, the report was actually seen as good news: It was a slower decline than in each of the two prior quarters, and economists had expected a contraction of 1.5%.

“This is good news,” Nariman Behravesh, an economist with IHS Global Insight Inc. (NYSE: IHS), told The San Francisco Chronicle.

But here’s the wild card: Although government spending did increase during the April-to-June quarter, only about 7.7% – $60.4 billion – of U.S. President Barack Obama’s stimulus package had actually made its way into the U.S. economy by June 30, the quarter’s official conclusion. Of that total, the largest component went to U.S. states to …

[Editor's Note: If it's inflation you're worried about - and commodities you want to invest in - there's no better place to look than the Global Resource Alert trading service, which ferrets out companies poised to profit from the so-called “Secular Bull Market” in commodities. If you’re new to the commodities-investing arena, and are uncertain about the landscape – or even if you’re an “old hand” at natural-resource stocks, but want some insights into the new profit plays and new players – consider hiring a guide: Money Morning Contributing EditorPeter Krauth, a recognized expert in metals, mining and energy stocks, who is also the editor of the Global Resource Alert. A former portfolio advisor, Krauth continues to work out of resource-rich Canada, which keeps him close to most of the companies he researches. Against the growing global financial malaise, Krauth says that commodities are among …

With the global economy on the mend, could gold be gearing up for another record-setting run? It sure looks that way. 

After peaking north of the $1,000 per ounce price level last year, gold hit a stumbling block when deflationary fears in the world’s largest economy sucked the air out of commodities prices and sent hoards of investors stampeding into the safe-haven of U.S. Treasuries, and helped spawn a rebound in the U.S. dollar.

Since that time, the global economic outlook - especially beyond U.S. borders - has improved, and gold prices have stabilized.

The next step - many gold bulls say - is for the yellow metal to make a run for new highs.

Gold started 2009 at about $870 an ounce - down substantially from early 2008 when prices hit a record-high $1033.90, but significantly higher than the $712.30 an ounce it was trading at in mid-November.

Then, when talk of inflation

[Editor's Note: If you're new to the commodities-investing arena, and are uncertain about the landscape - or even if you're an "old hand" at natural-resource stocks, but want some insights into the new profit plays and new players - consider hiring a guide: Money Morning Contributing Editor Peter Krauth, a recognized expert in metals, mining and energy stocks, is also the editor of the Global Resource Alert trading service, which ferrets out companies poised to profit from the so-called “Secular Bull Market” in commodities. A former portfolio advisor, Krauth continues to work out of resource-rich Canada, which keeps him close to most of the companies he researches. Against the growing global financial malaise, Krauth says that commodities are among the most-profitable and least-risky investments available, and notes that this may well be the most powerful bull market for commodities we’ll see in our lifetimes. He …