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.

Canada’s resource-rich economy is feeling the strain of tumbling commodity prices and falling demand in the US. And that’s bad news for the Canadian dollar. J. Christoph Amberger says the days of parity with the US dollar are long gone. He thinks it’s time to short the loonie.

The Sovereign Society’s currency analyst, Sean Hyman, says investors should stick to trading currencies. There are over 13,000 stocks open to public trading. But there are only eight major traded global currencies. This makes it far easier to keep track of movements and trends. And it means there’s more chance of picking a winner…

The Sovereign Society’s managing director, Erika Nolan, has given some useful baics about what you need to know before you jump into foreign-exchange investing.

Chris Gaffney takes a look at key currency movements in The Daily Reckoning. In today’s highlights: Oil weighs on the Canadian loonie… Mexican peso soars on rate hikes… Brazilian real still a speculative investment… Aussie dollar down on weak data… Japanese yen carry trade lives on…

In the currency market, the dollar sagged a bit against the euro. Late Friday, the euro was trading at $1.5549 vs. $1.5501 on Thursday.