With the economy in a tailspin, the U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers will today (Tuesday) almost certainly cut the benchmark Federal Funds rate from its current 1.0% to 0.5%.

So the question no longer seems to be whether the Fed will ease, but whether the move will make any difference.

The Fed has been hamstrung by a credit-market double-whammy: borrowers who are in limbo due to fears of soaring unemployment, and banks that have turned off the lending spigot. Even so, a U.S. economy facing its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression demands the central bank take decisive action.

That has led to a strong undercurrent of opinion among analysts that the Fed will pursue other measures to spark a moribund U.S. economy.

“We look…

The Fed and Treasury are doing untold damage to the US economy and the dollar with their unprecedented bailout spending, says Martin Hutchinson. That’s why there will soon be a stampede to the exits from the Treasury bond market. Martin gives four ways for investors to prepare for the coming crash.

Times are tough. But they are not so bad that we should abandon the quest for profits, says Louis Basenese. Buying US Treasury bonds with zero yields is idiotic. Louis gives six alternative investment options with big profit potential.

While the market panics about deflation, Eric Fry says forward-looking investors can profit by swimming against the tide. The Inflation-protected Treasury bond ETF (NYSE:TIP) has never been cheaper, meaning a great chance for gains as the government’s mega bailouts feed through to higher prices.

Weak auctions for government bonds strengthen the case to buy high-grade corporate paper, says Eric Roseman. Many of the world’s top companies have stronger balance sheets than governments. And the coming tidal wave of T-bonds means corporate bond yields may never be this high again.

Chasing market moves is the worst way to invest, says Steve McDonald. And piling everything into one asset class will not work either. Over time, you will always make more money with a balanced portfolio. That means a suitable combination of stocks and bonds. Steve comes up with a simple formula to find a portfolio split that works specifically for you.

Government bailouts for private banks are having a strange impact on bond markets, says Andrew Gordon. Fed guarantees have investors swapping traditionally safe government sponsored enterprise bonds for corporate bank bonds.

The tough thing about buying stocks is, you never know when they’ll appreciate in price (and you’ll make a profit). The other tough thing is, no matter how much homework you’ve done, there’s always a risk that something will go terribly wrong (fraud, accident, etc.) and your position will be wiped out. There are no guarantees when it comes to buying equity.

In the currency market, the dollar was sharply higher against the euro. Late Tuesday, the euro was trading at $1.5434 vs. $1.5536 on Monday.

“When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but battalions…”

Hamlet