The fact that Hungary's National Bank did not decide to make an unexpected interest rate cut at its meeting earlier this week seems to have a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchiveamp;sid=a84zp9hh0af0"surprised some/a, but it really should not have done. According to James Morsink, head of the IMF delegation to Budapest, Hungary only has room to cut its benchmark interest rate a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchiveamp;sid=aW.6Yo1wzmp4"at a “gradual and cautious” pace/a. The reasoning behind this view is simple, any more rapid reduction in the bank's benchmark rate risks being accompanied by a devaluation of the forint, and and any such devaluation would inevitably lead to a rise in mortgage defaults and problems for the banking system as holders of Swiss Franc forex loans find themselves unable to maintain their payments as unemployment rises and wages and salaries fall.br /br /Thus it is that even though the Hungarian economy is now in its worst recession in over a decade ...

America’s finest quality is that it has no memory! Three months ago, the topic of the day was which window to jump from; today all I hear is how hot the market is. This morning’s conversation on “Squawk Box” was how the market has moved 24 percent and maybe there is too much exuberance.

Too much exuberance? Last October we were wondering if there would be a run on the banks. Now it’s too much activity.

This complete lack of an ability to remember any bad news has a backside, you knew that was coming. The backside is that we also are blinded by the short-lived bad news.

For four months, almost every editor at “The Daily Edge” described the market this fall as the best buying opportunity of our lifetime. Virtually no one paid any attention.

The only thing more deficient than our memory is our ability to buy when things are cheap,

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Investing is much easier than what it used to be. Now you can sign up for your own online trading account and be approved in just a few days. From there all you have to do is enter the symbol of the stock you wish to purchase as well as how many shares you want. With so much competition in the online brokerage market today, many are offering low commission rates as well as free independent research tools to make better trading decisions.

Our name emphasizes the commitment we have to connect subscribers with companies that have huge potential to succeed in the short and long-term future. It is part of our mission statement to help the investment community discover emerging companies that offer excellent growth potential. We offer several ways for investors to learn more about investing in these companies as well as find and evaluate them.

The QualityStocks Daily Newsletter has

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President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team is reportedly putting the finishing touches on an economic recovery plan that could run from $675 billion to $1 trillion, though many experts believe the program will most like range between $700 billion and $800 billion.

Briefings for top congressional Democrats were to start either over the weekend or today (Monday), a senior transition-team official told The Associated Press late last week. President-elect Obama is slated to meet today with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in a Democratic strategy session that is likely to focus on the economic recovery package.

It’s time to look forward, not back. The 111th Congress meets tomorrow (Tuesday), and a comprehensive economic stimulus package is at the top of its agenda.  Hopefully, the lawmakers can put partisan bickering aside (fat chance) and have a bill in place for President-elect Barack

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Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are to America’s great empire what the East India Company was to the British Empire in the 19th century…and the Louisiana Company was to France in the 18th. Huge, stupid, and probably fatal.

Freddie and Fannie are huge government-chartered mortgage lenders. In 18th century France, speculators bet on the riches of Louisiana, through the government-chartered Louisiana Company. In the 19th century, they wagered their money on the riches of India, through the government-chartered Eastn India Company. And in the 20th century, they gambled on rising housing prices through Fannie and Freddie.

The immediate problem is that the mortgage lenders are running out of money. They need to raise $75 billion. A few years ago, that would have been no problem.

Everybody was ready to put money into America’s go-go, securitized housing market. But then, housing went.

Yesterday’s news tells us that housing prices are falling in 23 out of

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CarMax Group (KMX) continues to face a difficult used-vehicle environment, largely due to aggressive incentives being offered by new vehicle manufacturers. Declining used-car value due to the ongoing weakness in the overall economy and higher funding cost at the CarMax Auto Finance is eroding the margins of the company. The current economic slowdown and reduced consumer spending had a negative impact on the company s retail business. It is aggressively cutting prices on trucks and SUVs to reduce inventory. A drop in earnings and a higher valuation make us apprehensive about the stock's performance in the near term. Thus, we rate the stock a Sell and maintain our six-month target price of $6.50. Read the full analyst report on KMX

"KMX" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?Zacks Investment Research

by Edward Hugh: Barlecona br /br /br /Only one thing is really clear about the Germany economy at the present time, and that is that it is shrinking rapidly. In fact it contracted far more than most analysts and observers expected in the third quarter (although I, for one, a href="http://www.rgemonitor.com/euro-monitor/252923/what_is_the_recession_risk_for_the_german_economy"was not especially surprised/a), entering what now appears to be its worst recession in at least 12 years as both exports and domestic spending continue to fall. German gross domestic product in Q3 dropped by a seasonally adjusted 0.5 percent from the second quarter, when it fell by a quarterly 0.4 percent, according to revised data from the Federal Statistics Office. The Germany economy last had a two quarter contraction of this magnitude back in 1996.br /br /br /pa href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SRwqCqomolI/AAAAAAAALd8/hUkBJVBg6wg/s1600-h/GDP+y-o-y.png"img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5268131889409335890" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 198px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SRwqCqomolI/AAAAAAAALd8/hUkBJVBg6wg/s320/GDP+y-o-y.png" border="0" //abr /br ...

CarMax, Inc. (KMX) continues to face a difficult used-vehicle environment, largely due to aggressive incentives being offered by new vehicle manufacturers.

Declining used-car value due to the ongoing weakness in the overall economy and higher funding cost at the CarMax Auto Finance is eroding the margins of the company. The current economic slowdown and reduced consumer spending had a negative impact on the company s retail business. It is aggressively cutting prices on trucks and SUVs to reduce inventory.

A drop in earnings and a higher valuation make us apprehensive about the stock's performance in the near term. Thus, we rate the stock a Sell and maintain our six-month target price of $6.50.

"KMX" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?Zacks Investment Research

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The QualityStocks Daily Newsletter has been a real hit with both traders and investors because it keeps their finger on the market’s pulse without having to spend countless hours keeping up-to-date. The publication consolidates information from hundreds of Small-Cap and Micro-Cap Online Investment Newsletters in a summary format, plus provides the latest information on the companies we feature.

To sign up for the QualityStocks Daily Newsletter, visit www.signup.qualitystocks.net

The QualityStocks Blog keeps investors up to date on everything related to the small cap and micro cap

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Only one thing is really clear about the Germany economy at the present time, and that is that it is shrinking rapidly. In fact it contracted far more than most analysts and observers expected in the third quarter (although I, for one, a href="http://www.rgemonitor.com/euro-monitor/252923/what_is_the_recession_risk_for_the_german_economy"was not especially surprised/a), entering what now appears to be its worst recession in at least 12 years as both exports and domestic spending continue to fall. German gross domestic product in Q3 dropped by a seasonally adjusted 0.5 percent from the second quarter, when it fell by a quarterly 0.4 percent, according to revised data from the Federal Statistics Office. The Germany economy last had a two quarter contraction of this magnitude back in 1996.br /br /pa href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SRwqCqomolI/AAAAAAAALd8/hUkBJVBg6wg/s1600-h/GDP+y-o-y.png"img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5268131889409335890" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 198px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SRwqCqomolI/AAAAAAAALd8/hUkBJVBg6wg/s320/GDP+y-o-y.png" border="0" //abr /br /And all the signs are that the fourth ...