Stock markets came under pressure over the past few days as skepticism crept in that economic green shoots could be withering. On top of that, fears that the the US could be facing a credit rating downgrade (are the rating agencies now relevant again?) also caused losses for the US dollar and bonds.

These issues, together with another dose of discussion about the repayment of TARP funds, featured prominently in this week’s video clips. Commentators included in the selection below include James Galbraith, Jim Bianco, Robert Shiller, Sam Stovall, Bill Gross, David Rosenberg, Jim Rogers and Steve Leuthold.

The compilation kicks off with a top-quality interview with James Galbraith, saying that the banks can hardly lose but the rest of us aren’t so lucky, and concludes with the “American Casino” movie trailer.

Yahoo Finance, Tech Ticker: Galbraith - banks can hardly lose “Big banks have raised billions since the stress tests and policymakers

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Classic Jim Rogers – obviously he is on the same train as Marc Faber in terms of printing presses on overdrive [May 15, 2009: This was a Central Bank Printing Press Rally] As with Faber, Rogers is mostly stuck on CNBC Asia or Europe… don’t want to disrupt green seeds stateside. He is not short or hedged in anything at the moment, but buying Japanese Yen. The next crisis in his eyes are currencies which makes sense since sovereign states have taken much of the bad debt from the banks and piled them onto their own balance sheets (or if you will their central banks)… i.e. toxic is taken from private parties and splayed onto the backs of the public. Capitalism! Wait, Socialism! Wait… ok… who knows what we call it … I call it Reverse Robin Hood = …

I think it’s about time for a compelling argument that the stock market could be making a turn around…right? Well like it or not Chrisopher Hill, editor of Investorazzi.com, has come to make an argument that he’ll be defending in the comments section! So if you think otherwise tell him why!

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Equities have been on a roll these past two months. On Monday, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, which is a meaningful benchmark to investors because it generally reflects the movements of the U.S. stock market as a whole,  reached a four-month high to close at 907.  The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index also has been on a tear, finishing Monday at 1,763— up 11% for the year.

At this point, many traders and investors are asking, is the current rally in equities sustainable?  Or, are U.S. stocks about the make a U-turn and head south?

Recently, a couple of legendary

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As the financial markets await the bank stress test results in the US, a potpourri of video clips was produced. Although the discussions were varied, a golden thread prevailed: the duration of the financial crisis and the economic recession, and whether stock markets have hit bottom.

Needless to say, the plight of the beleaguered automakers and fears of an escalation in the number of swine flu cases also captured the attention of battle-weary investors. However, the S&P 500 Index rallied to a gain of 9.4% for April - representing its best monthly advance since March 2000 - and US Treasury yields jumped to levels last seen in November as investors “looked past the valley”.

Commentators featured on camera in this post include Simon Johnson, Michael Perino, Jim Walker, Steve Forbes, Christopher Whalen, Joseph Stiglitz, Marc Faber, Bill Ackman, Paul Kasriel, James Galbraith, Paul

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Jim Rogers Buying Gold: Bull Markets Has Years to Go, and Will Go Much Higher

Commodity Fundamentals Are ‘Unimpaired,’ Rogers Says

By Nigel Stevenson and Brett Foley

Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) — The fundamentals of commodities are “unimpaired” and prices will rebound when a lack of new supply leads to shortages, said Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings.

“Commodities will be the place to be if and when we come out of” the downturn, Rogers said yesterday in an interview from Miami. “The only thing where fundamentals are unimpaired are commodities. Farmers cannot get loans for fertilizer now. Nobody can get a loan to open a zinc mine. So we are going to have some serious, serious supply problems before too much longer.”

The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 commodities has plunged 53 percent from a record in July on concern that a global recession will sap demand for raw materials. The index almost doubled between

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Remember how rosy things looked yesterday morning, with the market shaking off bad economic news?nbsp; Well, that faded in the afternoon, and today, just rotten economic news is giving the markt its lumps. And yet gold is down despitenbsp;an apparent weakening trendnbsp;in the U.S. dollar. Look at a chart of the dollar ...brbrbrimg style=WIDTH: 490px alt= src=http://local.content.compendiumblog.com/uploads/user/7e88b461-578b-47f3-88ec-038e212ad053/aa0ff38d-9bb9-44a5-bba5-8be30d8f6977/dollar.png _height=75 _width=75Maybe the dollar will be able to go higher, but it doesn't look good. So why is gold weaker? I talkeed to a Chicago broker about this late yesterday. He says too many speculators have been burned, and gold buyers are on strike until they get lower prices.brbrMeanwhile, the outlook for the U.S. consumer is awful. Here is a chart for Red-Hot Commodity ETFs subscribers ...brimg style=WIDTH: 490px alt= src=http://local.content.compendiumblog.com/uploads/user/7e88b461-578b-47f3-88ec-038e212ad053/aa0ff38d-9bb9-44a5-bba5-8be30d8f6977/scc.png _height=75 _width=75This is a good area for a bounce in the SCC, and the fundamentals for consumers continue to be dismal.brbrSTRONGHere is ...

Remember how rosy things looked yesterday morning, with the market shaking off bad economic news?nbsp; Well, that faded in the afternoon, and today, just rotten economic news is giving the markt its lumps. And yet gold is down despitenbsp;an apparent weakening trendnbsp;in the U.S. dollar. Look at a chart of the dollar ...brbrbrimg style=WIDTH: 490px alt= src=http://local.content.compendiumblog.com/uploads/user/7e88b461-578b-47f3-88ec-038e212ad053/aa0ff38d-9bb9-44a5-bba5-8be30d8f6977/dollar.png _height=75 _width=75Maybe the dollar will be able to go higher, but it doesn't look good. So why is gold weaker? I talkeed to a Chicago broker about this late yesterday. He says too many speculators have been burned, and gold buyers are on strike until they get lower prices.brbrMeanwhile, the outlook for the U.S. consumer is awful. Here is a chart for Red-Hot Commodity ETFs subscribers ...brimg style=WIDTH: 490px alt= src=http://local.content.compendiumblog.com/uploads/user/7e88b461-578b-47f3-88ec-038e212ad053/aa0ff38d-9bb9-44a5-bba5-8be30d8f6977/scc.png _height=75 _width=75This is a good area for a bounce in the SCC, and the fundamentals for consumers continue to be dismal.brbrSTRONGHere is ...

The $2.66 trillion municipal bond market is embroiled in the overall credit market mess, creating an unusual complex of risks and opportunities.

The supply-demand forces in the municipal bond market have been unfavorable in the past year, causing prices to decline.

click images to enlarge

The mutual funds in this table are Vanguard Admiral class.  The minimum investment is $100,000, but the expense ratio is only 8 basis points.  Their Investor class shares carry a 15 basis point expense ratio.  Either expense is lower than most alternatives.

Negative Forces on Muni Market:

Some of the adverse circumstances impacting muni prices and rates include:

Credit downgrades for municipalities Near-bankruptcy of the muni bond insurers Unwinding of muni bond positions by hedge funds deleveraging Failure of the auction rate muni market Rise in long-term muni issuance as short-term rates became burdensome Rotation from muni to Treasury bonds in flight from risk of all ...