The markets are going to forgive the U.S. of its debt position and imbalances. They will forgive the U.S. of the financial institution meltdown that all began with sub prime mortgages. They will forgive the U.S. of having rising unemployment, and an economy that will be proven to be in a recession. And I’m not even going to go into the future debts the U.S. will have to take on with all the baby boomers hitting retirement.

“You will lose more in purchasing power (as central bank monetary inflation destroys the currency by printing enough to finance the higher stock prices) than you will ever net in gains…”

After voting to hold rates steady at its monthly meeting today (Thursday), European Central Bank (ECB) President Jean-Claude Trichet said a rate hike in July is “possible.”

‘The economic figures in Spain have deteriorated. Rato proposes reforms, and hopes that the government approves a package of economic measures soon’ says Paola Pecora.

Japan and the US said they would use the World Trade Organization to overturn European Union tariffs on consumer technology items such as computer screens, multifunctional printers and TV set-top boxes capable of accessing the Internet.

“The EU should be working with the United States to promote new technologies, not finding protectionist gimmicks to apply new duties to these products,” US Trade Representative Susan Schwab said to Thomson Reuters.