But for the many reasons we’ve described in these reckonings, we doubt that we’ve seen the last of this bear market.

“Either cuts in spending or increases in taxes will be necessary to stabilize the fiscal situation,” said Ben Bernanke in response to a question posed by a Member of Congress. Then, he added…

“The Federal Reserve will not monetize the debt.”

That last sentence has a ring to it. It reminds us of Richard Nixon’s “I am not a crook.” Surely, it is destined to make its way into the history books, alongside Bill Clinton’s “I did not have sex with that woman” and the builder of the Titanic’s “even God himself couldn’t sink this ship.”

Monetizing the debt is precisely what the Fed will do. But it will not do so precisely. Instead, it will act clumsily… reluctantly… incompetently… accidentally… and finally, catastrophically.

That’s our prediction, here at the Daily

...

That the president of the United States of America is now creating the business plan for an automobile company is surely a sign of something big.

Yesterday was a holiday in the US. Little news from that quarter.

But while Americans were enjoying their backyard barbecues, the rest of the world turned.

“Obama plans ‘leaner’ car industry,” says the BBC.

While most readers will focus on the last three words of that sentence, we direct your attention to the first two. The subject is the important part… not the predicate.

That the car industry may or may not get ‘leaner’ is of little interest to us. It will do what it needs to do. But that the president of the United States of America is now creating the business plan for an automobile company is surely a sign of something big. The world has already turned… perhaps more than we realize.

It was only a few

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USA, General Motors and the state of California all to go Bankrupt

As GM goes… so goes America…

Uh oh…

Stocks rose yesterday; the Dow went up 50 points. The bear market rally is still on. Oil touched the $60 mark… a sure sign, say analysts, that the global economy is picking up. And the dollar fell further… to $1.36 per euro. Gold held steady, at $912 an ounce.

While most stocks advanced yesterday, General Motors (NYSE:GM) backed up.

The experts say the company is going broke. “Chapter 11 looms,” says a Bloomberg report. Investors sold the stock down to $1.15 – a price GM hasn’t seen in more than 70 years. At that price you can buy the whole company for $700 million. Peanuts. Some fund managers earn that much in a single year.

Meanwhile, the USA follows the same downward slide as GM. Both are dogged by high debts, high costs and low

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Broadcasters don’t stop transmitting television programs during a recession. That’s why Tom Bulford says ContentFilm (LON:CFL) could be a great penny stock for this downturn. The company has a low-risk business model and is trading at a huge discount today. But Tom says investors need to watch out for a £9 million preferred shares liability due in March 2009.

This from Fleet Street Invest:

‘Welcome to the new West! Where overnight oil millionaires with Porsches and over-the-top mansions butt up against the salt-of-the earth cattle and rodeo country. It’s a place where fortunes are made in the tar sands at noon and lost on the poker tables at night.’

Phew! I don’t think we’re talking about Ilfracombe! More like Dallas, I should say. And this is indeed the promotion for a television series called The Wild Roses, described as an ‘epic clash

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Zenergy Power Plc (LON:ZEN) could be onto something big in the energy sector, says Tom Bulford. The small cap firm produces High Temperature Semiconductors (HTS) that are more energy efficient than copper. As it moves closer to cracking large markets in the US, Tom says the stock has serious long-term potential. This from Penny Sleuth: Karen Chandler opened her bag and took out a chunky strip of copper and placed it on the table. Next to it she put a slim ribbon of something else I didn’t recognise at all. The second had been made by depositing layers of substances that I had never heard of – such as Lanthanum Zirconate and Yttrium – onto a base of textured nickel tape.

The finished item is a High Temperature Semiconductor (HTS) and is apparently a ceramic rather than a metal. The important thing about it is that it

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As the market price of crude oil falls, it reaches a point where the cost of new exploration projects exceeds the potential rewards. And that point is dangerous for small cap GETECH (LON:GTC), which provides specialist geographical data to the oil industry. Tom Bulford says the company may be undervalued, given its strong assets and customer base. But uncertainty over oil prices remains a key risk to operations.

More from Penny Sleuth:

News that Shell is to halt development of its vast Canadian tar sands project is a sign of changing times in the oil industry – and one that will not be well received at the AIM-listed provider of data to the oil industry, GETECH (LON:GTC). This is a pity because last week’s annual results statement revealed a share that looked extremely cheap and prompted an 80% rise in its price from 16p to 30p.

The question that affects ...

Tom Bulford says clean technology could become the “next big sector”. A growing awareness of environmental problems means huge investment in the industry over the coming years. And that means plenty of exciting start-up opportunities…

This from Penny Sleuth:

How many times have you read that before? Several, I imagine. But this is not just my headline writer suffering from a crisis of creative confidence. It is, with a slight variation, lifted from the agenda of next week’s AIM conference, to which the London Stock Exchange has graciously offered me a free ticket thus saving me from having to fork out £650 for this one day event. It will be interesting to hear what the presenters at this conference make of the state of AIM today and I will relay this to you at a later date.

It will also be interesting to hear the panel discussion on ‘Cleantech - the next big

...

Tom Bulford says clean technology could become the “next big sector”. A growing awareness of environmental problems means huge investment in the industry over the coming years. And that means plenty of exciting start-up opportunities…

This from Penny Sleuth:

How many times have you read that before? Several, I imagine. But this is not just my headline writer suffering from a crisis of creative confidence. It is, with a slight variation, lifted from the agenda of next week’s AIM conference, to which the London Stock Exchange has graciously offered me a free ticket thus saving me from having to fork out £650 for this one day event. It will be interesting to hear what the presenters at this conference make of the state of AIM today and I will relay this to you at a later date.

It will also be interesting to hear the panel discussion on ‘Cleantech - the next big

...

Tom Bulford says clean technology could become the “next big sector”. A growing awareness of environmental problems means huge investment in the industry over the coming years. And that means plenty of exciting start-up opportunities…

This from Penny Sleuth:

How many times have you read that before? Several, I imagine. But this is not just my headline writer suffering from a crisis of creative confidence. It is, with a slight variation, lifted from the agenda of next week’s AIM conference, to which the London Stock Exchange has graciously offered me a free ticket thus saving me from having to fork out £650 for this one day event. It will be interesting to hear what the presenters at this conference make of the state of AIM today and I will relay this to you at a later date.

It will also be interesting to hear the panel discussion on ‘Cleantech - the next big

...

The recruitment industry is getting whacked right along with most other sectors right now. But Penny Sleuth's Tom Bulford sees strong potential for Hexagon Human Capital (LON:HHC). The company is well protected from the purge in the financial sector and has a solid cash flow. Tom says this is one to watch for the future...