Chris Mayer (Penny Sleuth):
“If you can tell me something else where the fundamentals are so attractive…I’d be happy to put my money there,” said Jim Rogers, the famed investor and self-made billionaire in a recent interview. “But I don’t know of any other place.”

Not much happened yesterday. The Dow fell 47 points. The newspapers attributed the reversal to surprisingly low consumer confidence numbers. Apparently, consumers aren’t so sure this crisis is over. As we reported yesterday, they’re saving money… maybe even at an 8% rate.

Presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and John McCain have clashed over the issue of tax reform.

Obama has pledged to introduce a windfall profit tax on oil companies and raise income tax for those earning over $250,000 a year if he wins the White House. McCain favors a lower corporate tax rate (from 35% to 25%) and suspension of fuel taxes during summer. Both seek tax cuts for the middle class.

“Investors should focus their minds around one uncomfortable fact,” says Martin Hutchinson in Money Morning.

Crude oil for July delivery traded at an all-time high of $139.12 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange today (Friday), after the U.S. dollar nosedived on speculation that the European Central Bank would raise its key lending rate and on worries that a bigger-than-expected spike in unemployment meant the U.S. economy was far weaker than feared.

The Federal Reserve made another quarter of a point rate cut yesterday, bringing the target Fed Funds rate down to 2%. This makes 3.25% the Fed has shaved off the rate since last summer.

Worldwide real estate markets are beginning to experience symtoms of the bust which has helped crippled the US economy. “The housing news is ugly not just in the U.S., but in other countries like Britain, Ireland and Spain. (Recent Economist headline: “Britain’s property boom turns to bust: prepare for a hard landing.”) This means the flood of printing press stimulus will also grow more global, as we saw with the Bank of England slashing rates this week. Bad news for paper currencies; good news for gold.” says Justice Litle.

As the U.S. dollar weakens, everyone from the professional economist to the average consumer is wondering what exactly are going to be the repercussions both domestically and internationally.

Mr Market kicked off the second quarter with a rally, extending gains into a second day. The upswing comes after heavy writedowns by Swiss bank UBS and data showing confidence among manufacturers at a four-year low.

Read on at Dow Jones MarketWatch.

“No matter what you think, now is the time to buy,” says value investor Chris Mayer.