Weak housing news??  What a shocker!!  I mean really, who could have seen that coming??

It's pretty clear to me that Bernanke has found a way to stimulate the markets without actually spending any money.  It works like this:   "We're not going to have QE3 right now, but we'll "revisit" it in September."   (Don't discount Obama's "plan" either.   The markets are salavating at that prospect too)  ...more

Mirage:  There is a good side to high gas prices.   Now every time I fill up, I double the value of my car!!

Personally, I think it's pretty stupid that the markets are going up on "hopes" that Bernanke is going to throw some more money at them in September.     But, I don't play the markets based on what I think they should be doing, I play the markets based on what they ARE doing.   And if the markets want to act like ...more

Anyone in the room care to help me on this one:   I wish I understood the European situation better.  The article speaks to fears that their banking crisis will spread to the USA.   I understand that many European banks are in debt to the US banks; that part I get.   The part I don't understand is, if the European ...more

It was just a couple of  weeks ago that Bernanke gave his previous speech where the pundits were falling all over themselves because he made a  clear statement about keeping interest rates low for the next two years.     Of course, what I never heard "anybody" mention was the fact that low doesn't mean the Fed won...more

SteveG, to add to what Mirage said, when the CME raised margin rates, they were essentially trying to put a brake on speculative investors.   The price of gold has risen very quickly over the last few weeks, so the CME is telling people who buy on margin,....borrowed money.....that they will now have to put up more...more

"The Labor Department said the number of people filing for unemployment benefits for the first time rose unexpectedly by 5,000 to 417,000 claims in the week ended Aug. 20." I always get a kick out of the word "unexpectedly"....I mean it's as if the government is clueless to the fact that their estimates are rarely co...more

The bulls better hope and pray that Bernake says some really magical words on Friday.  If not, I think many are going to be very disappointed.   Of course, I've never been in favor of any of the QE programs.  The markets get addicted to the government propping them up with money printed out of thin air.   And when ...more