Sara Nunnally says Middle Eastern states are using their petro-dollar Sovereign Wealth Funds to boost their international profile and reduce dependence on oil. She says “following the money” is a good way for investors to profit from this shift in global economic and financial power.

Consumer shows spooky signs of weakness… recession now unavoidable? How’s your 401(k)? Some scary stats on the average retirement savings plan. Haunting mortgage data… 10 million Americans suffer “negative equity”. U.S. finance capitalism dead or dying… Byron King on the new paradigm for global economic power. Eric Fry on investing during the post-crash bounce. Plus, one “surefire” sector during these frightening times.

With its central bank’s surprise interest-rate cut on Monday, India may actually be ahead of the monetary-policy curve for the first time ever as it moves to avert a recession that Asia’s third-largest economy needs to avoid, India investing expert Karim Rahemtulla said yesterday (Tuesday).

Global markets had deep sell-offs yesterday (Tuesday) as short-term credit markets remained tight, with the three-month lending rate for banks hitting a yearly high.

The U.K. government yesterday (Wednesday) announced its own banking bailout package with an $87 billion (50 billion pound) recapitalization plan for the ailing British financial sector.

Shares of Bank of American Corp. (BAC) fell more than 26% during trading yesterday (Tuesday) as investors reacted to the company’s disclosure that it was cutting its dividend after its third-quarter earnings plunged a stunning 68%.

In a bold move to provide stability to the frozen short-term credit markets, the U.S. Federal Reserve yesterday (Tuesday) announced new measures aimed at boosting liquidity and allowing corporations to maintain daily operations. But the U.S. markets were less enthusiastic about the Fed’s new measure. Slight gains in early morning trading quickly reversed course to plunge much lower.

It takes big cojones to invest in the US banking sector right now. Barely a week passes without another financial giant hitting the wall. The sector has been one of the worst hit this year.

But are there firms that will benefit from the wholesale restructuring of the industry? Money Map editor Horacio Marquez says Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC) “will jump from merely being one of the largest banks in the world to being a commercial-and-investment banking powerhouse.”

Horacio recommends using short-term volatility to buy BAC shares on market dips to gradually build up a long-term position by the end of the year.

Damned if they do, damned if they don’t, politicians the world over are looking pretty sheepish right now. Nationalizing failed banks, mortgage lenders and insurance firms hardly makes for a strong election pitch. It won’t do much to coax fresh risk capital into shoring up financial balance-sheets, either. But letting them fail would only look worse…

One man’s loss is another man’s gain. Jason Simpkins reports that Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) is buying up the ‘healthy’ remains of Lehman Brothers (NYSE:LEH) at bargain prices, expanding and diversifying its operations in the process. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs‘ (NYSE:GS) Q3 earnings were dreadful but still beat analyst expectations.