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

• Nelson Schwartz (HeraldTribune.com): Inside the global gold frenzy, November 8, 2009. Long considered the ultimate refuge for nervous investors, gold has climbed as the dollar has steadily weakened, budget deficits have expanded in the United States and Europe, and central banks have continued to pump trillions of dollars into weak economies, creating fears of another asset bubble that will ultimately pop. “It’s not that gold has changed, but gold buyers have changed,” said Suki Cooper, a precious-metals strategist for Barclays Capital. “It’s a structural shift we’re seeing on the investing side, from Asian central banks right down to individual investors buying ingots and coins.”

• William Rees-Mogg (Times Online): Which will come out on top: paper or gold? November

This post provides links to a number of thought-provoking articles I have read over the past few days that you may also find of interest.

• Andy Kessler (The Wall Street Journal): The Bernanke market, July 16, 2009, We won’t get real growth until Congress and Treasury get policy right.

• Irwin Stelzer (Times Online): American account: Barack Obama’s cures may just kill any recovery, July 12, 2009.

• Paul McCulley (Pimco - Global Central Bank Focus): What if?, So what should Washington do, if and when - and I stress “if and when”; I’m not making a forecast here! - private sector aggregate (nominal) demand growth looks like it’s going to languish in Japan style for the indefinite future? The answer: Take one cup of Krugman’s advice for Japan and two cups of Bernanke’s advice for Japan - responsibly

With investors trying to figure out the most likely direction of stock markets, the US dollar, government bonds, commodities and gold attracted a fair bit of attention - also from the producers of this week’s video footage.

Commentators in the selection below include Josh Rosner, Byron Wein, Stephen Jennings, Paul McCulley, Ed Yardini, Doug Kass and David Rosenberg.

The compilation kicks off with Congressman Alan Grayson uttering some harsh words at The Big Picture Conference - Capitalism After Crisis & Recession, and concludes with a fun ditty - a Wild Life Boogie, AKA The Economy Song.

Yahoo Finance, Tech Ticker: Cost of Fed expansion of balance sheet is $30K per American

“Those were just some of the harsh words Congressman Alan Grayson of Florida had this morning regarding Washington’s handling of the financial crisis so far. His remarks were part of The Big Picture Conference - Capitalism After Crisis &

This post provides links to some thought-provoking articles I have read over the past few days that you may also find of interest.

• Paul McCulley (Pimco - Global Central Bank Focus): The shadow banking system and Hyman Minsky’s economic journey, May 2009. As we look for answers about the current financial crisis, it’s clear that creative financing played a massive role in propelling the global financial system to hazy new heights - before leading the way into the depths of a systemic crisis. But how did financing get so creative? It didn’t happen within the confines of a regulated banking system, which submits to strict regulatory requirements in exchange for the safety of government backstopping. Instead, financing got so creative through the rise of a “shadow banking system,” which operated legally, yet almost completely outside the realm of bank regulation. The rise of this system drove

I've gotten a few questions from readers and colleagues about what sources I turn to for information about the markets, exchange-traded funds and related topics.

The list is long and varied, and ebbs and flows over time. But here are some of the sources (public, private and otherwise) that I turn to in my day-to-day reading. I'm sure I'm leaving out quite a few sites, but this at least is a partial list.

NATIONAL PUBLICATIONS

IndexUniverse.com and IndexUniverse.eu: It goes without saying that IndexUniverse.com and IndexUniverse.eu are the best sites on the Web for information about ETFs and how they are used in portfolios.

IndexUniverse.com

IndexUniverse.eu

Slate/The Big Money: Those two Web sites aside, I start my day at Slate.com, and its sister finance site The Big Money. I find the daily news summary (and weekly magazine summaries) the best meta-journalism on the Web. They offer

The current economic environment may have affected even the most well-considered retirement plans. Wherever you are on the path to retirement, recent declines in equity and housing prices are likely to have raised concerns about whether or not you are still on track.

This webcast comprises a panel discussion featuring the views of Morgan Stanley and external strategists as they present their perspectives on the current economic outlook and discuss key retirement planning issues. The discussion is chaired by Charlie Rose and panelists include the following:

• Paul McCulley, Managing Director and Generalist Portfolio Manager at PIMCO, and member of PIMCO’s investment committee.

• Moshe Milevsky, Finance Professor at the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto (Canada).

• David Darst, Chairman of Morgan Stanley’s Asset Allocation Committee and Chief Investment Strategist of Morgan Stanley Global

The video clips below come via my hotel room at Dana Point, California, where I am attending a conference hosted by Rob Arnott’s Research Affiliates. Also present are financial luminaries such as Peter Bernstein, Burton Malkiel, Harry Markowitz and Jack Treynor. It will be fascinating to hear whether these gentlemen see any signs of the economy starting to bottom, and how they are investing at this juncture.

On the video front, the IMF upped its forecast of total global credit crisis-related losses to $4.1 trillion by the end of 2010 and the Congressional Oversight Panel on Tarp conducted a hearing on Capitol Hill, whereas a host of commentators - including Martin Feldstein, Joseph Stiglitz, Nouriel Roubini, Frederic Mishkin, Paul McCulley and John Mauldin - weighed in with a combination of gloomy and “bottom-in-sight” economic forecasts, as well as comments on the imminent results of the

I am pretty much up to my ears at the moment with, of all things, a country outlook/analysis on Chile. This means that I have not exactly had time to do my usual tour of the recent economic data from the Eurozone and Eastern Europe. I hope to redeem myself at a later point next week.

Meanwhile I thought that I would round up this week at Alpha.Sources with a couple of pointers on a range of recently debated topics.

Hank Paulson, his Bazooka, and a European Perspective

Good old Hank Paulson certainly seems to be under the spotlight at the moment (see also my last post), not least in these two Bloomberg pieces from today and yesterday respectively. As could have been predicted it is all about who and what which will eventually make it under the soothing umbrella of the incoming treasury bail-out.

Please enjoy today’s complimentary issue of Currency Currents. If you’re interested in signing up and receiving this newsletter regularly, you can become a member at: http://www.blackswantrading.com/Currency_Currents.html

Key News• The U.K. economy stagnated unexpectedly in the second quarter, ending the nation's longest stretch of economic growth in more than a century. (Bloomberg)

British pound futures 60-min: News of stagnation not taken well. Ouch! 

• The Nikkei average sank 0.7 percent to its lowest close in almost five months. (Reuters)• Investors pulled their money out of Russia in the wake of the Georgia conflict at the fastest rate since the 1998 rouble crisis, new figures showed on Thursday. (FT)

Key Reports Due (WSJ): There are no economic indicators scheduled for today.

Quotable “Hatred of the producers of wealth still flourishes and has become, in fact, the racism of the intelligentsia.”       George Gilder

FX Trading – That giant sucking sound and the