MSCI world equity index up 0.7 pct at 224.39… Euro rallies on doubts over deep rate cuts… Oil jumps 5 pct; government bonds fall

Firmer Asian, British and emerging market shares pushed world stocks to a one-month high on Thursday with the focus on the fate of U.S. automakers, while doubts over deep euro zone interest rate cuts boosted the euro.

Oil rose 5 percent, extending earlier gains, while the index of leading European shares fell. U.S. stock futures were pointing to a firmer open on Wall Street with investors focusing on the $14 billion plan to bail out the big three U.S. automakers.

The proposal passed the House of Representatives but its prospects looked grim in the Senate where supporters, who say the measure is necessary to avoid another jolt to an already contracting economy, struggled to keep it alive.

“Most of the bad news

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Data shows just how bad things are…  Trade deficits narrow…  EU confirms they are in a recession…  RBA intervening again… And Now… Today’s Pfennig! We finally had some data releases here in the US which look to steer the markets, so I’ll just get right to it.

The dollar continued to strengthen yesterday after another round of bad weekly employment figures. Initial jobless claims increased to 516k during the first week of November, and last weeks numbers were revised up to 484k. The employment picture continues to darken here in the US, and it doesn’t look like it will improve any time soon. This is just what the US consumers don’t need right now. Not only are most consumers living paycheck to paycheck,

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There’s always a profit story hiding somewhere in forex trading, says Chuck Butler. The “stealth-like” Swiss franc is in line to profit from this market crisis. The economy still has solid fundamentals. And when the credit squeeze eases, Chuck says the franc will make some big strides.

This from The Sovereign Society:

Hidden conspiracies, liquidity-starved central banks, another bailout for Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM), and now even American Express (NYSE:AXP) wants a piece of that US$700 billion bailout (hence their new “banking” status)…

Shoot, I know I’m ready for a little good news. How about you?

Well, that’s the nice thing about trading currencies. There’s always a profit story hiding somewhere, even in a disastrous market like this. Yesterday, I gave you the low-down on one my favorite currencies to own ahead of the market recovery: The Norwegian kroner.

Today, I want to tell you about another currency that’s in a solid position

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by Edward Hugh: Barcelona Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány announced yesterday (Wednesday) that the government had reached an agreement with commercial banks intended to protect the interests of those who have taken out foreign currency loans. The agreement, which is expected to be signed early next week, has three key components: 1) At the request of the debtor the banks will allow the duration of the loan to be extended (with fixed monthly instalments) so that the depreciation of the forint “does not place an unbearable burden on the debtors". 2) FX debtors who deem that exchange rate fluctuations carry excessive risks for them will be allowed to convert their foreign currency-based loan to a forint loan. In this case the banks “will accept this request and make the switch without extra charges". 3) If a debtor finds him- or herself in a position where he or she cannot pay the monthly instalments, e.g. due ...

Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány announced this morning (Wednesday) that the government had reached an agreement with commercial banks intended to protect the interests of those who have taken out foreign currency loans.The agreement, which is expected to be signed early next week, has three key components:1) At the request of the debtor the banks will allow the duration of the loan to be extended (with fixed monthly instalments) so that the depreciation of the forint “does not place an unbearable burden on the debtors".2) FX debtors who deem that exchange rate fluctuations carry excessive risks for them will be allowed to convert their foreign currency-based loan to a forint loan. In this case the banks “will accept this request and make the switch without extra charges".3) If a debtor finds him- or herself in a position where he or she cannot ...

Everyone is joining aboard to solve this world credit crisis. The U.S. government along with several international governments planned a series of global, coordinated steps to shore up investor confidence and encourage banks to start lending to each other both domestically and abroad. The Federal Reserve announced it would provide unlimited dollars, on a short-term basis, to the Bank of England, the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank. On Tuesday, the Bank of Japan joined the program.

This is wonderful news to the skittish banking industry, which has been holding onto cash, rather than lending to other financial institutions. When banks don’t lend to each other, consumers have a hard time obtaining home mortgages, auto loans, and tuition loans. It’s this push and pull between the banks that allow the money to circulate and invest into various programs and systems.

The bank-to-bank rate, known as Libor, is a daily average

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Even the Swiss are joining in the bank bailout game. The two biggest banks, UBS (NYSE:UBS) and Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS), have taken dramatic steps to offload toxic debt and raise working capital. But Bob Bauman says investors shouldn’t worry about the country’s banking system. It is still the place to safeguard your assets from the financial meltdown.

In the latest chapter of government intervention, Switzerland absorbed $60 billion of distressed debt from UBS’s books. The government also took a 9% stake in the bank. Meanwhile, Credit Suisse called upon key shareholders (including the government of Qatar) to raise capital.

But Bob says the only Swiss banks in trouble are those that abandoned their traditional banking principles and “Americanized” their business. Thankfully, the

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If the Central Banks were our kids, we’d be taking their credit cards away. They are spending us into the poor house! Sure, Wall Street is at the rotten root of this crisis. Their toxic debt is poisoning the global economy and financial system. But there’s plenty of blame to go around. On Monday morning, I just about choked on my coffee when I read the latest announcement from the Federal Reserve. They bluntly stated that the sky’s the limit on how much money banks can borrow. And other central banks, including the Bank of England, European Central Bank, Swiss National Bank and Bank of Japan are joining in to basically give away money. ...

Key News• Commodities Rout May Be Half Over as Economy, Oil, Metals Demand Declines (Bloomberg)• A Crash Heard Around the World (WSJ)

Quotable “Every ambitious would-be empire, clarions it abroad that she is conquering the world to bring it peace, security and freedom, and it is sacrificing her sons only for the most noble and humanitarian purposes. That is a lie; and it is an ancient lie, yet generations still rise and believe it.”

         Henry David Thoreau

FX Trading – New Global Intervention and Our Technical Analysis Might Signal a Rest

Last week there was a huge cooperative among the world’s central banks to cut interest rates.  Central Banks in the US, UK, Sweden, Eurozone, Switzerland, China, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong all got involved.

It wasn’t been long before the market mostly ignored this heavy-handed effort. And apparently the Federal Reserve didn’t have much confidence that global rate cuts would

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Coordinated rate cuts...  Did the Fed reignite soaring inflation?  More pain in Iceland...  Revisiting the 90's in Japan... And Now... Today's Pfennig!