There’s been a return to risk aversion overnight, as some news from the United Kingdom has reignited the fears that the banks may still be sitting on a ton of bad debt… Of course, as Pfennig readers, you already know this…

Today’s headlines look pretty horrible. House prices have suffered their biggest annual fall since the early 1990s, says the Nationwide.

“Captain, we’re running out of fuel!” “Don’t panic! Just burn up what little we have. And burn it faster!” Gordon Brown, crisis buster extraordinaire, has a solution to the energy crisis. Are you ready?

Life’s about to get much tougher…for all of us…It’s that R-word again. Loose talk of a ‘recession’ has been bandied about for some time, particularly amongst those of us who keep a keen eye on what’s happening in both the money markets and the high street.

It was the usual doom and gloom when I opened the paper this morning. The Bank of England predicts a protracted slowdown. It’s revised its growth forecast for next year to 1.5%, down from a 2009 forecast of 2.8% made last year.

Crude Hits $133; Time Warner Spins Off Cable Unit; Boeing Jettisons 750 Workers; UBS Sells Assets to BlackRock; American Airlines’ Desperate Moves; Moody’s Big Mistake; DOJ to Sue OPEC?; BOE Holds on Inflation Fears.

In the currency market, the dollar gave back most of its early gains but remained slightly higher against the euro. Late Thursday, the euro was trading at $1.5396 vs. $1.5404 on Wednesday.

The dollar is a bit softer this morning going into the Jobs Jamboree, and rightly so, given the forecast. However, the dollar is still swinging a mighty hammer and I’m a bit perplexed by this.

Shock horror, Gordon Brown says: “Sorry” Following on from his embarrassing climb down over the 10p tax rate – after the threat of a backbench rebellion – Gordon Brown has gone on the apology offensive. Perhaps he’s trying to limit some of the damage done to his credibility from the lambasting he recently received from Labour’s former chief fundraiser – Lord Levy.

Welcome to another action-packed Monday. The weekend went by fast, no? All in all, it looks like a good week to be long the financials for a quick trade. Though by “quick trade,” I really mean a lightning-quick trade. The kind that works best for trigger-fingered scalpers who like catching moves that threaten to finish before they start.