1. U.K. Economic Data Boosts the U.S. Dollar
(News/Latest)

... early morning trading as a report was released in the U.K. showing that their economy’s contraction was worse than previously thought. GDP in the UK fell 1.6% in the fourth quarter of 2008 verus the previous ...

2. Bargains in the REIT Wreckage (BusinessWeek Online)
(News/Latest)

BusinessWeek Online - After a terrible 2008, real estate investment trusts are having an awful 2009. The SPDR Dow Jones Wilshire REIT (NYSEArca:RWR - News) exchange-traded fund, which tracks 82 REITs, ...

3. Silver and Gold
(News/Latest)

... He’s the hedge-fund manager who made $10 billion in 2007 and 2008 betting that the subprime mortgage market would implode. “Mr. Paulson’s purchase of AngloGold Ashanti is, in essence, a $1.3 billion ...

4. Disaster: Homestead, Fla., hit by foreclosures (AP)
(News/Latest)

... who planted those swaying slices of the tropics in shopping malls, office parks and the front yards of new homes across the country. But in mid-2008, Richardson noticed a slowdown in orders. Then business ...

5. Geithner Tanks the Dollar, Then Pushes it Back Up
(News/Latest)

... of 2008. The economists are predicting a drop of 6.6% during the last quarter, but the trend with data releases this week would suggest the number will come a bit stronger. We will also see the weekly ...

6. Fed Begins Buying U.S. Treasuries
(News/Latest)

... latest rendition of the S&P/Case Shiller Home Price Index. Yesterday’s printing capped off 2008 with another record decline. “December data showed a 19.2% yearly fall for their 10 city composite and ...

7. Surprise! Higher Gas Prices Are Coming
(News/Latest)

I don’t know about you, but 2008’s oil spike made me angry. Back in the middle of the year oil was sitting around $140 a barrel and gas was $4.50 a gallon. It took me about $50 to fill up the tank of my ...

8. Meet the Regulators of Team USA Economy
(News/Latest)

... But Geithner could have lead the charge and barked about tax legislation. (Perhaps heís hoping not to take a fall, should things go awry). In 2008, there were 500 changes to the tax codeÖand any idiot ...

9. Cheering Gold’s New One-Month Low
(News/Latest)

... as we know all too well, were decimated in 2008. But based on some analysis from our old friend Dr. Marc Faber in his latest Gloom, Boom, Doom report, commodities as an asset class are about the only stocks ...

10. Foreclosures soar 81 percent in 2008 (Reuters)
(News/Latest)

Reuters - U.S. foreclosure activity jumped 81 percent in 2008, with one in every 54 households getting at least one filing notice, suggesting various state laws and private programs to slow the process ...

11. Untitled
(News/Latest)

... from Rude Readers Edited by Eric Fry and Joel Bowman “Forecast for 2009: People will wish it was 2008!” exclaims reader Carl Sopchak. “Stocks end the year another 30% plus below where ...

12. US foreclosure filings up 81 percent in 2008 (AP)
(News/Latest)

AP - More than 2.3 million American homeowners faced foreclosure proceedings last year, an 81 percent increase from 2007, with the worst yet to come as consumers grapple with layoffs, shrinking investment ...

13. US foreclosures spike 81 pct in 2008: RealtyTrac (AFP)
(News/Latest)

AFP - US home foreclosures, the epicenter of the global financial crisis, spiked 81 percent in 2008 despite efforts to slow the "tsunami," a data tracking firm said Thursday.Read more: BayVal Financial ...

14. Pipe Nightmares
(News/Latest)

... than 20 years. Restaurants closed and residents were under a boil-water advisory. From Jan. 1 through November of 2008, the WSSC repaired 1,357 breaks and leaks - or about four per day. The previous general ...

15. The Credit Depression
(News/Latest)

Here they come. At the end of 2008, all the social and personal signs of a real depression were absent. They are making themselves present now. The suicides, the frauds, the job losses…they’re ...

16. Surviving 2009…With a Sunburn
(News/Latest)

... out of what savings and investments they have left from the global financial meltdown of 2008. Some want to get themselves and their money out of the path of what they fear will be the Great Global Depression ...

17. Stock Strategies: Random Predictions for 2009
(News/Latest)

I’m happy to turn the page on 2008. We had a great streak of profitable trades in Strategic Short Report, but it still was a stressful, painful year to be an investor. Even if you’re far more patient and ...

18. The Good Ol’ Days of 2008
(News/Latest)

... are the ones orchestrating massive, taxpayer-funded bailouts. Reader, beware! In the column below, Bill Bonner takes one final look at the death of 2008. As you might expect from Bill, the passing is more ...

19. Basic Economics
(News/Latest)

... Toyota effect, multiplied many times over. 2.5 Million jobs were lost in 2008. You get millions out of a job, millions behind in their mortgage and credit card payments, millions with homes worth less ...

20. Random Predictions for 2009
(News/Latest)

... we have solicited the informed insights of one of the VERY few investors who “got it right” in 2008. Dan Amoss, editor of the Strategic Short Report, guided his subscribers to several triple-digit gains ...