Bond bubble remerges… details behind the gov’s latest debt struggle… The slow demise of snail mail… USPS forecasts record losses… Customized drugs: Patrick Cox on a breakthrough set to revolutionize health care… Bill Jenkins with another sign the euro is overvalued… his price targets below…

Just when you thought the bond bubble was being saved for another day…

The government managed to auction $39 billion worth of 5-year debt yesterday… barely. Wednesday’s debt sale drew a bid-to-cover ratio of 1.92, the lowest investor demand since September 2008. Low demand forced Uncle Sam to jack up interest rates at the last minute in two separate bond auctions this week — yesterday’s sale and Tuesday’s $42 billion auction of 2-year notes.

So what’s an indebted government to do? Manipulate the market, of course. Bond yields have given back yesterday’s spike partly thanks to the Federal Reserve, which bought $3

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The U.S. Postal Service is on track for a record $7 billion deficit this year. That’s more than double last year’s loss.

Postmaster General John Potter bumped up his previous projection by a billion bucks yesterday, citing the growing expenses of six-day delivery and employee retirement/health care plans. Potter and his team are scrambling to cut costs left and right — from a yearlong hiring freeze to early retirement offers to branch closures. But we wonder… will it even matter?

The Government Accountability Office recently labeled the USPS a “high risk” federal program, and while we’re hard-pressed to think of any risk-free government program, we’re inclined to agree.

The Postal Service is facing a perfect storm of business risk: The business is already loaded up with debt. Minimum wage and benefit costs are rising while revenues are

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Gold declined gently throughout Far East and early European trading on Tuesday…and by shortly after lunchtime in London…had given up around four bucks. From there, a smallish rally developed that made an attempt to continue rallying on the Comex, but got cut off at the knees [at its high of the day] shortly after 9:10 a.m. Eastern time. This decline lasted until 1:15 p.m. in New York…and by the time electronic trading ended at 5:15 p.m. yesterday afternoon…gold was back to virtually unchanged from Monday’s close. Silver didn’t do much. It lost a dime in choppy trading.

I mentioned yesterday that the open interest decline on Friday [in that short-covering rally] would have been somewhat offset by the big rally that we had on Monday. Well, I was only partially right. Open interest for Monday’s big day showed a staggering increase…up 12,999 contracts to 393,536…on big volume of 139,361 contracts. Friday’s

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First Russia, then China, now U.N.? Powers of the world move to ditch the dollar …Puru Saxena on why the Fed secretly wants inflation… the more the better…The 5 examines the future of energy… from deep-water drilling to “polywell fusion”… Another government biz on the verge of collapse… one that will affect us all… Plus, some good housing news, maybe… home prices retreat to historic range

“A new global reserve system,” a panel of United Nations economists declared yesterday, “could contribute to global stability, economic strength and global equity.”

We begin with this today not because the U.N. is saying anything revolutionary, but because the global chorus to ditch the dollar is quickly becoming deafening. The Kremlin last week, China’s central bank earlier this week, Tim Geithner yesterday and now this… a U.N. panel led by an American no less.

There is “a growing

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The markets rallied today with the Dow up over 2% to close at 7924.56.  The NASDAQ was up 58.06 to close at 1587.00 while the S&P was up 18.98 to close at 832.86.  The price of the 10-year rose with yields ending the day at 2.746%.  Oil contracts were up settling at $54.34 while gold contracts fell to settle at $942.20. 

The tech heavy NASDAQ rose today led by Google [GOOG: 353.29, +9.22 (+2.68%)] and Research in Motion, [RIMM: 45.04, +2.12 (+4.94%)] who were up the entire day.  Both companies benefited from analysts making positive comments about their stocks.  An analyst from Jefferies & Company cited that they saw positive signs in the internet sector, boosting Google’s price from the opening bell.  Google has dropped over -55% from their one year high in July, and has suffered during the economic downturn.  RIMM was benefited by

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The Fed’s first credit crisis lawsuit… who’s suing and why, AmEx, Fannie Mae unload more financial follies… government “fixes” problem with more taxpayer dollars, Chris Mayer with a credit crisis byproduct (and opportunity) that could affect the entire world, China announces big stimulus plan… so why did commodities fall? A hefty chink in Dubai’s armor, Plus, Dan Amoss with a once-favored investment theme due to be back in the spotlight soon

Here’s a curious development that may be worth watching: Bloomberg is suing the Federal Reserve.

Last week, we took a look at the Fed’s bulging $2 trillion balance sheet. And if you’re a long-suffering 5 Min. reader, you know our futile recounting of the weekly Fed lending programs… all the abbreviations and acronyms: TAF, TSLF, PDCF, CPFF, TARP, etc.

Well, the folks at

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SkyPostal Networks, Inc., (SKPN.OB), the Miami-based international mail distribution company specializing in the hand delivery of mail and periodicals into Latin America, has a stated mission: “To provide our customers with a consistent, secure, and reliable mail delivery service of the highest standards”.

Since their founding in 2002, they have been able to do exactly that, beating out government delivery services through the use of innovative logistics solutions and state-of-the-art information technology.

Now the largest private mail network in Latin America, serving 20 major countries, SkyPostal handles mail from European postal administrations, major publishers, international mailers, and financial institutions that require time-defined and reliable delivery of their mail or magazines. SkyPostal supports their service with a proprietary, web-based tracking system that allows clients to track mailings, while reducing costs through the well-managed outsourcing of transportation and delivery services. As a result, the company is able to

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Public policy is determined by elected governmental officials and appointees who are responsible to them.  This is the nature of accountability and representative government. As citizens we are all free to criticize and vote for our favorite choices.  One person, one vote. At "A Dash" we are disturbed by recent commentary that suggests that trading in financial markets should dictate public policy decisions.  No one elected the financial managers nor the pundits.  Their interests are not necessarily aligned with the overall economy, the housing market, nor (especially) the GSE's --- Fannie and Freddie. The dividing line is clearly stated in this article by Zac Bissonnette at Blogging Stocks.  He contrasts the opinions of two people whom we admire, Barney Frank and Warren Buffett.  Here is the analysis: In an interview with Money, Frank was asked about Fannie Mae and ...