Gold stocks are taking a drubbing, as are most of the other classic inflation hedges. Why? Because inflation fears have abated. The deflationist view of the world is the one that now prevails. That’s why 10-year Treasury yields have dropped all the way down to 3.35% from a high of 3.95% one month ago.

Indexes drop 3 percent; All 30 Dow stocks lower… Financials lead slide on outlook concerns… Dec retail sales fall signals spending contraction

Embattled U.S. banking giant Citigroup Inc. (C) has agreed to buy back $17.4 billion of assets remaining in a series of funds known as structured investment vehicles, or SIVs, after it previously agreed to guarantee the liabilities in those funds.

American Express Co. (AXP) today (Tuesday) won approval from the U.S. Federal Reserve to become a commercial bank, giving the credit card titan a crucial lifeline as the risk of defaults runs higher in the slowing global market.

The chief executive officer of HSBC Holdings PLC (ADR: HBC), Europe’s biggest lender, today (Tuesday) called on the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks to make fighting inflation a priority.

Fannie Mae is supposed to be prime, but it turns out that much of its loan book is made up of less than perfect credit.

Forbes reports that yesterday “Fannie Mae executives told analysts that 43.0%, or $946 million, of the $2.2 billion in losses incurred during the first quarter involved Alt-A loans. They also said that the company’s ‘Alt-A book will continue to drive an outsize portion of our overall credit losses.’

The U.S. Federal Reserve reduced the benchmark U.S. lending rate by a quarter point – from 2.25% to 2% – yesterday (Wednesday), and then hinted that it will take a break from one of its most-aggressive rate-cutting campaigns in decades.

PMorgan & Chase Co. (JPM) reported profit of $2.37 billion (or 68 cents a share), more than a 50% drop from $4.79 billion (or $1.34 a share) from a year earlier.

George Soros first made a name for himself with The Quantum Fund, a hedge fund that’s often described as the first real global investment fund, which he and partner Jim Rogers founded in 1970.