The U.S. Federal put gave gold the nuclear it needed to restart its appliance and the revered metal has already driven during the trading register boundary it's been stuck in for the sometime month. 'Buy gold! Buy gleaming! Buy them because they're the alone defense against what's incident in all the other markets!!'
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U.S. Consumer Confidence may be at its lowest in 16years, but the Worlds ultra-Rich who like to spend their money an things or experiences that will enhance their lifestyle, such as travel or jewelry, aren't deterred by the shaky economy.
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The price of crude oil today is not made according to any traditional relation of supply to demand. It
’s controlled by an elaborate financial market system as well as by the four major Anglo-American oil companies. As much as 60% of today’s crude oil price is pure speculation driven by large trader banks and hedge funds.
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FederalReserve and other central banks said they will pump $200 billion into the financial markets to help ease the strain from the credit crisis. The Feds acting in concert with the European Central Bank, Bank of Canada and the Swiss National Bank, agreed to loan banks money in exchange for debt that includes slumping mortgage backed securites
The Fed promised a $200 billion booster shot for ailing markets -- and Wall Street answered with its biggest bounce in more than five years.
The Dow Jones industrials shot up more than 416 points, the biggest single-day point gain since July 2002, after the Federal Reserve announced the move as part of a worldwide effort to help struggling banks and mortgage providers.
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Hoping to ease the credit crisis, the Fed -- acting with the European Central Bank, the Bank of Canada and the Swiss National Bank -- agreed to loan investment banks money in exchange for debt, including slumping mortgage-backed securities.
The idea is to create a market for assets that investors have recently been too scared to buy. That freeze in demand had sent asset values plunging and caused huge losses for some of the world's biggest banks.
After a series of hefty losses in stocks, the market hopes the central banks' decision Tuesday might be more effective than previous moves -- like rate cuts, which had led to initial stock pops that later fizzled.
"It's not just a rate cut. I think it's a very creative way to do financing," said Anthony Conroy, managing director and head trader for BNY ConvergEx Group. "It shows the Fed is willing to do things that are a little out-of-the-box to shore up credit issues. I really think they went to the heart of the issue."
Investors certainly seemed to like it: The Dow rose 416.66, or 3.6 percent, to 12,156.81. It was the biggest point jump in the Dow since a 447-point rise on July 29, 2002, and its widest one-day percentage gain since March 2003.
The Dow had lost more than 500 points in the past three sessions and is still down about 2,000 points from its October 2007 record high.
Broader stock indicators also soared. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 47.28, or 3.7 percent, to 1,320.65, while the Nasdaq composite index surged 86.42, or about 4 percent, to 2,255.76.
It was the S&P's biggest point gain since April 5, 2001, and the Nasdaq's biggest since May 8, 2002.
The latest step by the central banks was seen as a direct lifeline to investment banks, which previously couldn't borrow beyond already established Fed liquidity plans.
The plan basically allows Wall Street's biggest institutions to put up troubled assets as collateral for loans, use the new capital to make money in the market, and then pay back the loan up to 28 days later.
Though eventually banks would be forced to take the troubled mortgage-backed debt back on their books, the plan still takes short-term pressure off them. Many of these banks will release first-quarter earnings reports next week.
"The big problem has been the financials, and this helps supply money directly to the banks and may take some of the need for aggressive rate cutting off the table," said Peter Dunay, chief investment strategist at Meridian Equity Partners. "The Fed is basically going to take the bad loans off the banks' books, and the market seems to be loving that idea."
The Fed may have avoided dramatically slashing interest rates again when it meets next week. Economists remain concerned about the unrelenting rise in oil prices and the dollar's weakness, which contribute to inflation -- and cutting rates only adds to those pressures.
Government bond prices fell as stocks rallied. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, spiked to 3.60 percent from 3.46 percent late Monday.
Financial sector stocks, many of which have dipped to multiyear lows in recent days on liquidity concerns, led the market higher Tuesday.
Citigroup Inc. rose $1.42, or 7.2 percent, to $21.11, Washington Mutual Inc. rose $1.72, or 17 percent, to $11.76, and Bank of America Corp. rose $1.33, or 3.8 percent, to $36.64.
Morgan Stanley rose $4.19, or 10.9 percent, to $42.49, Lehman Brothers rose $3.33, or 7.8 percent, to $46.31, and Merrill Lynch rose $2.76, or 6.4 percent, to $45.60.
Bear Stearns Cos. rebounded from losses to rise 67 cents to $62.97, even after an analyst said the No. 5 U.S. investment bank might need to sell itself, or layoff more staff, to stay afloat. The cost to insure Bear Stearns bonds has been spiking to all-time highs. A spokesman for Bear Stearns didn't immediately return telephone calls.
The Fed's announcement overshadowed a report from the Commerce Department that showed the United States' trade deficit grew larger in January. The latest snapshot of the economy showed that the trade gap increased to $58.2 billion -- the highest since November.
The primary reason behind the widening trade deficit is high oil prices. Crude rose as high as $109.72 in premarket trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange before ending at a new settlement record of $108.75. The weak dollar has contributed to oil's rally from $87 a barrel in January.
Gold prices rose, while the dollar edged up against most other major currencies.
The only sector posting major losses Tuesday was health care, which has been strong in recent months. WellPoint Inc. fell after Goldman Sachs trimmed its ratings in the managed care sector to neutral from attractive. The investment bank singled out WellPoint's performance amid pricing pressures. The stock plunged $18.66, or 28 percent, to $47.26.
Google Inc. shares spiked after European Union regulators cleared the Internet company's $3.1 billion bid for online ad tracker DoubleClick. Shares of Google rose $26.22, or 6.3 percent, to $439.84.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 29.84, or 4.63 percent, to 673.81.
Advancing issues surpassed decliners by more than 5-to-1 on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume came to 5.17 billion shares, up sharply from 4.15 billion shares Monday.
Stocks overseas rebounded. Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average rose 1.01 percent, while Hong Kong's market closed up 1.28 percent higher. Britain's FTSE-100 rose 1.7 percent, Germany was up 2.01 percent, and France added 1.61 percent.
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Fifty-four percent of the CFOs said the UnitedStates is in recession, and another 24 percent said there is a high likelihood of one starting later this year, according to a DukeUniversity/CFO Magazine survey completed on March 7
Fifty-four percent of the CFOs said the United States is in recession, and another 24 percent said there is a high likelihood of one starting later this year, according to a Duke University/CFO Magazine survey completed on March 7.
Nearly three-quarters of the CFOs said they were more pessimistic this quarter than in the prior quarter about the U.S. economy, reflecting concerns about consumer spending, turmoil in credit and housing markets, and high energy prices.
An index of optimism, which rates the economy on a 1 to 100 scale, is at 52, the lowest in the seven-year history of the index, the survey found.
"The last two recessions lasted only eight months," said Duke professor Campbell Harvey, founding director of the survey. "In contrast, 90 percent of the CFOs do not believe the economy will turn the corner in 2008. Indeed, many of them believe it will be late 2009 before a recovery takes hold."
In response, companies are scaling back plans for capital spending and are not planning significant hiring, in part because of high labor costs, according to the survey, which has been conducted for 12 years.
Most CFOs said interest rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve have had no impact on their business, and more than a third said credit conditions have directly hurt their companies by making capital tougher to get and more expensive.
The survey included responses from 1,073 CFOs, including 475 based in the United States.
Those polled in Europe and Asia have also grown more pessimistic about economies in their regions, while two-thirds of Chinese CFOs said they are concerned about U.S. recession hurting their profit margins or demand for their exports.
The CFOs in the survey largely agree with the view of economists, as polled by Reuters.
A Reuters poll on Wednesday found a 60 percentprobability of a U.S. recession this year, up from 45 percent in a February poll. They forecast no economic growth for the first quarter, down from an earlier estimate of 0.2 percent growth. The poll also found higher expectations for U.S. inflation this year.
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.... with Sheryl Crow and Sinbad! 
Klinton claim: "I negotiated openborders to let fleeing refugees into safety from Kosovo."
Chicago Tribune: Borders opened before she got there; she stayed for a day with Sheryl Crow, Sinbad, and her daughter.
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She has no idea how many times I defended her. For sixteenyears, I was a proud soldier in the legion of "Clinton apologists" -- who believed that peace and prosperity were more important than regrettable personality traits. And then she ran for president.
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David Trimble, who helped broker peace in NorthernIreland said Sen. Hillary Clinton's role in those negotiations was that of a cheerleader, not a participant. "I don't want to rain on the thing for her but being a cheerleader for something is slightly different from being a principal player."
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Senator Clinton's "3AM" attack ad features footage of a young girl asleep in bed... She is now 17 and is not only planning to vote for Barack Obama, she's beenvolunteering for his campaign for months.
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Democrat Bill Foster has snatched former HouseSpeaker Dennis Hastert's congressional seat in a closely watched special election that gave the longtimeRepublican district to the Democrats. Sweet!
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