Mr. Market has begun to show clear signs of split personality disorder in recent weeks. Now that investors have exhaled in relief that a deflationary apocalypse has been avoided, the new reality of reflation and stagnation is sinking in…

“Mr. Market” is starting to show clear signs of split personality disorder.

On the one hand, certain areas of the market – the ones much favored in the big run-up – have started to wilt and fade as the much-lauded “green shoots” turn brown. On the other hand, other areas of the market – which didn’t participate so much in the rally at first – have started showing signs of life.

Take the grain markets for example. Foodstuffs like corn, wheat, soybeans and sugar have been red-hot in recent days.

We can see this in the Powershares

As the markets would tell it, the swine flu epidemic is little more than a tempest in a teacup. But, sad to say, the danger here remains far greater than it seems…

Before we begin, a word in honor of Monday’s stage-five rocket launch of a rally. Or should I say, rally on top of rally.

As a caveat, these words are being written some two hours and change before market close. Regardless of where that close may be, however, it simply must be said – watching what seemed to be nearly every risk-related asset in the world catch a gigantic bid simultaneously was, in a word, awesome.

(Your humble editor was so transfixed by the sight, he felt verbally transported back to his seventh-grade skateboarding days.)

The world, it seems, is pounding the table for a V-shaped recovery. Maybe even a slightly leftward-tilting V, to

How to make 300% off Washington’s lies. I don’t like to think that I am actually that much of a curmudgeon. I will concede, however, that historically, economically and financially speaking, lies and liars are probably closer to the norm than not.

And thank the Lord (or, perhaps more appropriately, that bad old fallen angel) for them, because the proliferation of lies, half-truths and obfuscations can offer the skeptical investor some of his finest trading opportunities.

Here’s an example: Back in 1982, 16-year-old Barry Minkow of Reseda, Calif., started a carpet cleaning biz out of his parent’s garage. Now these were optimistic, go-go times… the beginning of the Reagan Revolution that would see the Dow Jones Industrial Average rise from sub-1,000 levels to unthinkably unimaginable heights.

A $100 Million Con Doesn’t Seem Like Much These Days

Pretty early in the game, Minkow decided on one thing for

The oldest, most trusted technician in the world is telling you to sell now. Recession? Depression? Nascent recovery? Market bottom? Dead cat bounce?

Lock a Washington economist, a Wall Street analyst and a Main Street broker in a room, tell them their lives depended on what they said next, and you’d still get five different answers, not a one but so much practical use.

By now you have probably caught on that I have a definite opinion on this matter (my bearish stance has become legendary around the Taipan Publishing Group coffee room) and what you ought to be doing about it (buy puts!).

But heck, I’m just one guy with a mere 30 years or so of business experience, and I write for a small outfit out of the somewhat less-than-major financial center that is Baltimore, Md. Why should anyone listen to me (other than the fact that I

…

It was January 1934. The Great Depression was five years old – but still had another five years to run. The carnage was horrific: From 1929 to 1934, U.S. personal income plunged 44%, real output nosedived 30% and the unemployment rate soared to 25% of the American labor force.

With the nation’s economic landscape laid to waste, it should be no surprise that home foreclosures were soaring, too: Residential real-estate foreclosures doubled between 1926 and 1929 – before the Great Depression actually began. According to a new study by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the foreclosure rate jumped from 3.6 per 1,000 mortgages in 1926 to 13.3 in 1933. In that year, in fact, 1,000 home mortgages were being foreclosed each day.

By Jan 1, 1934, as many as half of all residential mortgages were delinquent, putting them at risk of foreclosure.

Clearly something had to be

China’s red-hot economy is officially slowing. Latest data put annual GDP growth at 9.0% in Q3, down from 10.1% in the previous quarter. Most analysts expect further economic easing and accelerated capital flight in Q4. But Jason Simpkins says a correction will actually benefit the Chinese economy, which has been running the risk of overheating. And ’slower’ growth of around 8% next year will still be the envy of the developed world.

This from Money Morning:

On the surface, it appears as though the Chinese economy is suffering along with the rest of the world. The economic crisis that has ensnared Western economies is expected to dampen Chinese exports and there is already evidence of capital flight.

But the real story is that China’s foreign exchange reserves – at $1.9 trillion – remain at an all-time high, and the