ROSENBERG: THE 7 MAJOR RISKS BREWING

Just in case you were worried that David Rosenberg had turned all bright and happy with regards to the US equity markets – he brings us his 7 major risks brewing:

The Operator Of The World's Largest Oil Tanker Fleet Gives Up On The Global Recovery

Norway's Frontline, which operates the world's largest oil tanker fleet, announced an 81-percent decline in net income for the first quarter compared to last year. The company issued a grim outlook: “It is hard to see a strong recovery in the tanker market as long as the net supply of tonnage grows faster than the total ton mile demand.” Frontline increased fleet size right before the recession hit. Three years later, CEO John Frederickson has given up on demand returning to those levels. Thus Frontline may seek to "optimize" its fleet, which "may involve selling assets and becoming “passive." Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/frontline-sell-ships-2011-5#ixzz1NqWqFMDF

Asian Tiger Sinks Teeth Into Gold

The World Gold Council (WGC) released its quarterly “Gold Demand Trends” report last week and, as always, it was filled with fascinating data on the strength of the global gold market. Gold demand grew 11 percent to 981.3 tons during the first quarter of 2011, worth $43.7 billion at quarter-end’s price levels. The increase was driven by a significant rise in demand for gold as an investment, up 26 percent from a year ago, as emerging markets look to protect their assets from rising inflation. Demand for gold bars and coins was up 62 percent and 42 percent, respectively.

Don't Fret Over Europe's Debt Crisis – Oil Prices Will Bounce Back

The volatility in the oil market has notched up this week, courtesy of another bout with debt jitters in Europe. Oil and gasoline futures are moving down - and most of the energy sector along with them. In a situation like the current European debt mess - where maximum uncertainty is channeled into a very focused concern - oil futures will generally overcompensate, exaggerating the downside. Of course, that is of little consolation to the traders who in the past few days have seen about $3.00 cut from the near-month futures (July).

Ebenezer Scrooge: The Ideal IMF Successor

Dominique Strauss-Kahn's forced resignation from the International Monetary Fund - and the search for an IMF successor - is a blessing in disguise. Strauss-Kahn's term in office saw a vast expansion of the IMF's activities, a fact often used to praise his tenure. But a close examination yields a very different picture. Under Strauss-Kahn, who took over as the IMF managing director in September 2007, nearly every intervention has resulted in failure: The IMF allocated capital to places it shouldn't have allocated capital to, and propped up governments that shouldn't have been propped up. The ideal IMF successor to Strauss-Kahn would be Ebenezer Scrooge - as a prelude to closing the institution down altogether. That's because the IMF is a waste of money ... your money. To understand why, let's take a look at what the IMF is, and see how it works.

Why China raising interest rates is the best advert for investors

Having led the recovery from the market low point in 2009, emerging market shares have flatlined since late last year. Developed markets, such as America's, have seen all the action over the past six months, with the S&P 500 up 11pc.

They can try to ‘delay and pray’ but the euro is running out of time

As a doomsayer from the start, who has written several times on the subject, I have recently been reluctant to burden my readers with more jeremiads about the euro.

The Bank of England's astonishing escape from the financial crisis

Unreported outside the business pages, a remarkable hearing took place last week – one which may well culminate in the Commons Treasury Select Committee demanding a full independent inquiry into the Bank of England's handling of the financial crisis.

It's ever more obvious, Greece must leave the euro

I've hardly been alone, but that's no excuse. For more than a year now, I've been regularly predicting the euro crisis's final denouement, yet still it hasn't arrived.

How the euro crisis end game might look

After the fiasco of Collateralised Debt Obligations, anything the clowns of the credit-rating agencies have to say about Europe's sovereign debt crisis deserves to be taken with a sack full of salt.

REAL US HOUSING PRICES 1991-2010

As Lenders Hold Homes in Foreclosure, Sales Are Hurt

Jayson Meyerovitz, a broker in the Phoenix area, is concerned about bank-owned foreclosures: “If so many houses hit the market, what is going to happen then?”

To Awaken a Sleeping Giant: After Missing the Mobile-Computing Boom, What's Next For Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC)?

From 1990 to 1999, Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) shares soared 10,000%, making the chipmaking half of the so-called "Wintel" duo a stock that almost every investor wanted to own. And why not: Intel's processors served as the brains of 90% of the world's personal computers. And the PC market was booming. It's been a much different story over the last 10 years, however.

The art market is warning of a slump in China

Europe hogged the headlines yesterday. You can see why. Italy got a bad review from a credit ratings agency, Spain's government was trounced in local elections, and Greece's woes just keep rumbling on. It's a messy business. But in the background there's another concern – perhaps even greater than the fears over the sovereign debt crisis. Because evidence is now mounting that the saviour of the global economy – China – is slowing. That could be very bad news for stocks in general, and for one sector in particular.

Oil price jumps as Goldman Sachs raises forecasts

Oil rose more than $1 per barrel on Tuesday after Goldman Sachs raised its forecasts for North Sea Brent crude, citing strong fuel demand growth.

Moody's warns 14 UK banks face downgrade

Moody's, the credit rating agency, said it may cut its rating on 14 British financial groups, including Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland, following a reassessment of the level of systemic support they need.

How the euro crisis end game might look

After the fiasco of Collateralised Debt Obligations, anything the clowns of the credit-rating agencies have to say about Europe's sovereign debt crisis deserves to be taken with a sack full of salt.

How Spain could rip the eurozone apart

Another weekend, another problem with the eurozone. In fact, there's more than one. Greece's financial woes keep piling up. The country's bonds have just been downgraded again. Fitch Ratings has cut its view on Greek debt from BB+ to B+. In credit score-speak, this lowers Greece's rating from "non-investment grade speculative" to "highly speculative". Put more simply, Fitch reckons that people buying Greek debt are taking a huge risk they won't get their money back. That's bad enough. But meanwhile, an even bigger danger to the eurozone is developing 1,400 miles to the west – from Spain.

An Interview with Hugo Salinas Price on a Return to a Silver Mexican Peso

We, here at The Dollar Vigilante (TDV), have been big supporters of Hugo Salinas Price for years. Not just for his business exploits, which have made him a billionaire, but because he now spends a significant portion of his time trying to return silver as a monetary medium in his home country of Mexico.

Greece suffers fresh blow as credit rating cut by Fitch

Greece has had its creditworthiness slashed by Fitch, one of the world's top three ratings agencies, in another blow to efforts to get the country's finances back on track.

Forget LinkedIn - some tech stocks are still cheap

Eleven years ago, the bursting of the first tech bubble – the dotcom bust - laid the foundations for an era of lunatic monetary policy that continues to this day. Fuelled by the low interest rates that were meant to cushion the US economy from the stock market collapse, a colossal property bubble inflated then exploded. This almost destroyed the global financial system. This in turn gave central banks a green light to pursue even more crazed monetary experiments. And now we have Tech Bubble 2.0 – or so everyone says, at least.

Another IMF leader from Western Europe would be a historic mistake

Appointing the next IMF boss from Western Europe would be a mistake of historic proportions – not least given the extent to which the centre of economic gravity has now shifted to the emerging markets of the east.

Royal Bank of Scotland misses lending target

Royal Bank of Scotland is expected to come under fire tomorrow as official figures will show it missed its lending target for the first three months of the year, a goal which fellow state-owned Lloyds Banking Group exceeded.

David Cameron seeks UK philanthropists in the mould of Gates and Buffett

The Government is to call on the private sector to be more generous in the amounts that it gives to charity and become a central part of the "Big Society" project.

The Bank of England is failing this country

Its forecasting record is hopeless and inaction has left us with prices racing ahead of pay.

The US dollar is cheap – but it could get cheaper

John Stepek, MoneyWeek's editor, has been asking me to give an update on the US dollar for several months now. And I've consistently replied, "Yes, you're right, John, absolutely" and then gone and written about something else. It's because every time I look at it, it seems so unbelievably cheap, I can't help arguing that it's due a rally. And then it falls even further. And then John emails me again. So in today's Money Morning – unprompted by John – I look at the once mighty US dollar.

Global Commodity Prices: Soaring Worldwide Population Growth and a Can't-Miss Profit Play

If you read the newly released United Nations report on global population trends, you can reach only one conclusion about the long-term outlook for global commodity prices. They're going higher. Much higher. In its report, "2010 Revision of World Population Prospects," published May 3, the UN now estimates that the global population will reach 9.3 billion in 2050, which is an increase of 150 million from the 9.15 billion it projected in its 2008 forecast. Nor is that the only revision the UN made to its 2008 forecast. Instead of peaking in 2070, as it had previously predicted, the UN now says the world population won't peak until after 2100, when it will reach 10.1 billion - 44% higher than it is today. The key takeaway: Given this expectation for worldwide population growth, it's clear that the rise in global resources prices we've seen since 2002 is for real, and is likely to continue for the long term. The effect on global commodity prices will be clear - and dramatic. Oil prices, metals prices and - above all - food prices are likely to be much higher in 2050 (in terms of that era's overall purchasing power) than they are today.

Which will crack first, the euro or the dollar?

The papers this morning are full of the news of the arrest of Dominique Strauss Kahn, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Strauss-Kahn was arrested in New York after allegedly attacking a maid in his hotel room. He denies all charges. We'll not delve into the details of the story here. But his arrest comes at a very sensitive time for the markets. Strauss-Kahn was meant to be attending a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Brussels today, to discuss among other things, the fate of Europe's weakest link – Greece. It's not a killer blow. But it certainly won't make things any easier.

When online shopping makes financial sense

Those over the age of 55 are missing out on cheap deals and competitive savings rates by refusing to use the internet.

Why RBS will be the success story of 2012

A sell-back of the bank to the private sector is now a case of when, not if.

The wrong kind of inflation

"It's not the inflation they need to sort out, Mr Bootle, it's the rising prices!"

At last, a policy that’s better than a bail-out

The restructuring of debt offers Europe an alternative to endless, ineffective hand-outs.

Japan nuclear power expansion plans abandoned

Prime minister Naoto Kan says renewables will become a key part of energy policy as country marks two months since tsunami

Why Inflation in China Could Lead to Another Global Recession

Inflation in China is far more intractable than official headline statistics reveal. That's potentially bad news for global growth and toppy stock and commodities markets. If China effectively dampens dangerously high inflationary expectations and real, rapidly rising food, property and fixed-investment assets by hitting the brakes too hard, global growth could skid and potentially stall out. The resulting sound of breaking glass would likely be clear support levels enjoyed by rising stock and commodity markets as they finally correct, along with theories of China's infinite growth trajectory.

The Future of the Euro: Why Europe's Key Currency is Doomed

The Eurozone project has seen better days, which is why the future of the euro isn't a bright one. In fact, as all the latest speculation about Greece either abandoning the euro currency - or being booted out of the Eurozone outright - is demonstrating, "the market" is about to apply a level of pressure well beyond what the Eurozone and European Union (EU) were designed to handle. The number of sovereign states in the EU that are facing difficulty selling new debt, or even a rollover of current debt, is growing. The Eurozone and the EU are both in trouble. Clearly, the structure that exists today is flawed and will not withstand the rigors and pressures that are headed directly its way. The ability to kick the can down the road is about to end, and with it some hard decisions will need to be made by the political and wealthy elite. Let's take a closer look.

The Inflection Point: Why the U.S. Dollar is Ready to Rebound

Silver and gold skyrocketed for months, while the U.S. dollar plunged. Most investors expected those trends to continue. But Money Morning's Jack Barnes, a former hedge-fund manager, knew better. He warned of a looming reversal that would stand the global financial markets on end. In this new Money Morning series, "The Inflection Point," Barnes will examine the causes - and effects - of this unfolding reversal, and will show you how to profit.

Spectre of stagflation reappears as the excesses of QE hit home

Between January and March, we now know, the UK economy grew only 0.5pc.

Canadians outbid LSE for Toronto exchange

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) was on Saturday night facing the prospect of an independent future after a group of Canadian banks and pension funds tabled a rival C$2.8bn (£1.8bn) bid for TMX Group.

Carpetbaggers of finance have killed the incentive to save

The causes of Britain's poor savings rate are doubtless many and varied, but right up there at the top of the list has to be an age old problem – why would anyone want to save with a financial services industry whose modus operandi seems to be to feast on the gullible and fleece the ignorant?

Soros and Paulson move in opposite directions as gold declines

Billionaire traders offer investors clashing opinions over future of falling commodities market

Volcker warns of danger from U.S. deficits

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker warned on Friday that trillion-dollar deficits posed a threat to the stability of the U.S. economy and the dollar, and said he is frustrated by the gridlock in Washington.

Eric Sprott on Silver

Eric has over 40 years of experience in the investment industry and manages over $9 billion. He has been stunningly accurate in his writings for over a decade, and is one of the most respected industry professionals who accurately foresaw the current crisis. Eric chronicled the dangers of excessive leverage as well as the bubbles the Fed was creating, while correctly forecasting the tragic collapse. Sprott Asset Management is one of the top firms in the world. The firm has become well known not only for its performance, but also for creating a gold and now silver trust.

Weekly Claims Soar as Job Market Recovery Turns Sour

New U.S. claims for unemployment aid unexpectedly rose last week to touch their highest level in eight months, pushed up by factors ranging from spring break layoffs to the introduction of an emergency benefits program, a government report showed on Thursday.

Silver, Gold Futures Dropping as Soros Reported to Have Sold

Silver futures fell, heading for the biggest three-day drop since 2008, and gold also retreated amid a report Soros Fund Management LLC sold precious-metal assets. Soros Fund Management sold some holdings because of a reduced risk of deflation, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited unidentified people close to the matter. Michael Vachon, a spokesman for Soros, declined to comment. The fund held shares in the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest exchange-traded product backed by gold, and the iShares Gold Trust (IAU) at the end of 2010, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings show.

Come to Canada, Clark Kent

In a bold move last week, (i.e. something that slipped by all the higher-ups) DC Comics had Superman announce that he was renouncing his U.S. citizenship in the 900th issue of Action Comics, the series where the Man of Steel first appeared back in 1938. As is always the case when fictional characters change, the U.S. media lost their minds, with everyone from Bill O’Reilly to Mike Huckabee weighing in on this horrific turn of events. The very handsome hero from an exploded planet justified this decision in-story by saying, “I’m tired of having my actions construed as instruments of U.S. policy,” which is a reasonable enough justification and an amazingly boring thing for Superman to say.

Should you buy into commodities giant Glencore?

How do you fancy owning shares in the biggest company you've never heard of? Glencore is coming to town. It's by no means a household name – it's a commodities' trader with headquarters in the canton of Zug in the heart of Switzerland. Yet shares in Glencore will soon be floated on the UK stock exchange. Indeed, the firm has now become so large that it will be catapulted straight into the ranks of the top 20 companies listed in London. So if you have a pension, or hold a mainstream British tracker fund, the chances are you'll soon own a slice of it anyway. But should you buy any more shares yourself?

A small-cap success story in a billion-dollar market

City investors often say that the reason they do not invest in small companies is that they simply cannot buy a sufficient amount of shares. They say that they need to be able to buy enough to justify the work of assessing the company in the first place and monitoring it thereafter. And they need to hold enough shares to make a real difference to the performance of their multi-million pound investment portfolios. That's fair enough. But the irony is that these big investors then buy the shares later on when the company has grown larger, and they miss out on the early years of its growth.

Silver could fall as far as $22 – but the bull market isn't over

Well, it had to happen sooner or later. In fact, I thought it would be sooner. Silver has been walloped. In a mere three trading days it has gone from just shy of $50 an ounce to $41. This isn't the first time something like this has happened. And it won't be the last. So what next?

The six Glencore billionaires...and one multi-millionaire

With Glencore possibly creating Kazakhstan's richest man when it floats later this month, here is a snapshot of its other main shareholding directors, and how much they could be worth if the company prices its float at the mid-point of its price range.

We need an independent probe into this woeful RBS tale and FSA shambles

In the words of Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, on Thursday: "We need to know the decisive mistakes which destroyed RBS, how they came to be made, whether the FSA was asleep at the wheel, and whether we can have confidence that they are awake now."

Chris Huhne needs a lesson in economics

Plundering the profits from North Sea oil will only hold back Britain's recovery.

UK is not Portugal, but it could become so

And then there were three. For the UK, there could scarcely be a more salutary warning of the dangers of runaway public debt than the sight of Portugal joining Greece and Ireland in economic enslavement to the faceless bureaucrats of Europe and International Monetary Fund.

Change in U.S. Housing Prices: 2000-2010

Richard Russell - China on Massive Gold Accumulation Program

With gold closing at an all-time high, silver hitting new 31 year highs this week and the US dollar continuing its plunge, the Godfather of newsletter writers, Richard Russell had this to say in his latest commentary, “One of the questions that I'm most frequently asked is this: ‘Russell, do you think the US government will call in all the privately-held gold, just as Roosevelt did in 1933?’

The Top Emerging Market of 2011: It's NOT China

When I review each of the world's emerging markets in order to decide which ones to buy this year, I start with two questions: • Is the market cheap? • Has it under-performed during the past year? If the answer for both those questions is "yes," that market is much more likely to get my vote. But with every rule, there are exceptions, as we shall see..

Banks face European probe into credit-default swap trade

Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and Goldman Sachs are among 16 investment banks at the centre of a European competition probe into the market for controversial credit default swaps (CDS).

America's reckless money-printing could put the world back into crisis

Last week, Ben Bernanke suggested that the US base interest rate will stay close to zero for an "extended period". It's been there since December 2008.

Why the power of the mighty Federal Reserve is finally on the wane

It is only right that central banks, having messed up so monumentally, are made more transparent and accountable.

Portugal reaches bail-out agreement

José Sócrates, Portugal's caretaker prime minister, said on Tuesday night that he has reached agreement on a bail-out from the EU and the International Monetary Fund.