The dollar rose broadly on Monday, hitting a near two-week high against the yen, as traders trimmed short positions in the U.S. currency following broad losses so far this month.

No one person is responsible for the credit crisis, the failure of investment banks, the insolvency of commercial banks world-wide, the implosion of the world’s stock markets, or for leading us to the precipice of another great depression.

An article in the Wall Street Journal caught my eye, leading me to wonder if green investors may be crying the blues in 2009 and beyond.

Gold added about $20 to its price in Sydney trading first thing on Monday morning. This lasted right up until Hong Kong trading started a few hours later, and then went into a slow decline from there. This decline lasted through London…and then Comex trading in New York. Gold added to its gains in after-hours Globex trading.

Gold bulls are going to attempt to raid Comex’s vaults by forcing delivery on their December futures contracts TODAY. Who can tell how that will go? I can’t. But it’ll be interesting to watch.

President-elect Barack Obama yesterday (Thursday) named Mary L. Schapiro – a strong proponent of protections for individual investors – to head the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission when his administration takes office next month, the biggest of three nominations with potential financial crisis implications.

I remember in the summer of 2006 I would face my blank computer screen on a Friday and wonder, what I could write about? The media was all Goldilocks, all the time. Today, there is such a target-rich environment.

Gold didn’t do much of anything on Wednesday until well into the trading day in London.

You hear it everywhere in the press… “Oil is in a bubble and it’s all down to speculators driving up the price”.

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…