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

• Jennifer Hughes (Financial Times): Visibility improved but storms may lie ahead, November 13, 2008. The fog is beginning to lift. All year executives, analysts and investors have talked of a “lack of visibility” on the outlook for the economy, earnings and financial markets. By “visibility” they are in essence complaining about the uncertainty that clouds all forecasts all the time, but which we had increasingly managed to ignore during such a steady run of good times. Investors are becoming more confident that the fog is lifting, but that does not necessarily mean there is sunshine waiting just behind it.

• Doug Kass (TheStreet.com): Market ignorance is bliss, November 12, 2009. I do believe with some certainty that the market’s vulnerability

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Dan Holland has just interviewed Wall Street chronicler Charlie Gasparino’s. The first few paragraphs of the interview that appeared on RealClearMarkets are published below.

There’s good reason to believe that Gasparino’s latest book, The Sellout, will become the definitive book on the current financial crisis and the events that led up to “The Great Recession.” Spanning three decades, The Sellout pulls no punches in chronicling the rise and fall of excessive Wall Street leverage and risk taking, as well as the cast of colorful characters that ultimately brought the US financial system to its knees. It will hit bookshelves tomorrow [Tuesday].

RealClearMarkets: You sat down recently with Wall Street legend Teddy Forstmann to discuss your new book and the genesis of the mess we now find ourselves in. Forstmann said it all began as a “cold” back in the 1970s and 1980s, and that since

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MARKET COMMENT April 22, 2009 I got a lot of emails wondering where we’ve been and the simple explanation is we had a family health crisis to deal with. Resolving this is proceeding. I was very much aware of the tough market on Monday and the resulting rally Tuesday. The negative earnings and economic news means little it seems. Sure, there is some good news here and there and bulls’ cherry-pick it while dismissing the negative as just old news. According to Art Hogan, chief market analyst at Jerfferies & Co.: “The important thing with these earnings reports is that no one has been so atrociously bearish with their guidance to slow the market down. We’re clearly in a situation where the path of least resistance is higher.” That’s comical. Volume still remains on the light side which means ...

Back in 1999, I traveled to Moscow with a group of powerful business people and government officials. The most powerful of them all was Sandy Weill, CEO of Citi at the time.

Sandy was a man of action. It was almost inevitable that he would hate Moscow. The lines … the waiting … dealing with the slow-moving Russian bureaucrats…

When Sandy wasn’t squirming, he was scowling…

That is, until talk turned to his proudest accomplishment – Citigroup.

He grew it into a global financial powerhouse. And he talked confidently of leaving the world a lasting legacy.

Nobody could foresee at the time that Citigroup would instead turn into one of the world’s biggest busts.

Last week, the government took up to a 36 percent position in Citi. It was either that or letting the banking behemoth fail.

The economy is on a rampage. If tight credit, falling asset values, and weakening demand can bring down big powerful

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February 23, 2009

So we move to more trial balloons as the new administration tries another deal that may help Prince Alwaleed and Sandy Weill’s (cough) legacy.

But it was another Bronx Cheer for the new administration’s repeated remedies. A small gap opening higher was all bulls could muster and it only lasted a few minutes before sellers took complete charge.

Volume was average but breadth was horrible and with a little more time we’ll see if it was a 90/10 day on the downside.

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November 24, 2008 What’s so good about putting up $7.4 trillion of taxpayer money to backstop stupid banks? Then it’s said Obama wants a $700 billion stimulus plan immediately. These amounts are beyond mind-numbing. But you know something; I’m no different than you--ticked off. I wonder how much Citigroup stock Sandy Weill and Robert Rubin have sold over the past few years. Whatever misbegotten gains they’ve received should be turned over to taxpayers. But doing so would involve the Treasury recycling it back to Citigroup. Silly me! Okay, all this isn’t my job. Let’s move to the markets where investors were overjoyed by the prospects of more bailouts that should lead to future inflation. Always remember when deflation presents itself politicians and policy makers will choose inflation over tough love every time. Today’s bullish action is follow-through from ...

Huge trend reversal: Dollar busts, commodities boom… why, and will it last? Rate cuts round the world… U.S. and China slash, Japan considers. U.S. three months away from “official” recession. Two new bailouts: Who’s lining up for help, plus Uncle Sam’s October tab. Denning and Nelson on beating inflation with the right long-haul stock.

The U.S. dollar fell by its largest percentage in 13 years yesterday.

Et voila, the trend we believe is your friend returned with some impressive steam:

The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index popped 5.9% — diddly squat compared with equity moves lately, but still the biggest daily gain for the index since its inception, in 1956.

Alas, despite the rise, the CRB is still down 24%

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