World stocks retreated further from last week’s 11-month high on Monday as lower energy and commodity prices and caution ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting and G20 summit prompted investors to trim risky trades.

We stayed up late last night reading Dr Van K Tharp’s Safe Strategies for Financial Freedom. It’s a great primer on how attain financial freedom without busting a gut. And we thoroughly recommend it to anyone hoping to free up more time for themselves and live off their investments.

U.S. stocks gained today after software maker Oracle’s (NASDAQ: ORCL) results beat expectations and durable goods orders jumped unexpectedly, giving more hope that the economy is rebounding.

If there’s a proverb that captures the outlook for the U.S. economy in the New Year, it’s the one that says: “It’s always darkest before the dawn.”

Well we have made it to the end of another year, and this one has been quite a ride. This is the last full trading week of the year, so barring a huge rally, the Dow, NASDAQ, and S&P will all end the year with losses north of 30 percent.

Turn back the clocks to 1950…  Currencies rally on the day…  Bank of Canada to cut rates today…
Fed Funds to zero? And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

On Wednesday, gold vacillated between $740 and $750 all through the Far East and early European trading. Gold struggled to tack on about $20 within two hours of the Comex open in New York, but then it was lights out for the rest of the regular trading session.

Fed cuts rates 50 BPS!…  Currencies rally Big!…  3rd QTR GDP to go negative?…  I.O.U.S.A. … And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

U.S. equities rallied yesterday (Tuesday) as the U.S. Federal Reserve convened for the first day of a two-day meeting of its monetary policy committee.

Last year, China was viewed as the driver behind rising commodities prices.

Now the blame for spiraling food and oil prices is increasingly being laid at the door of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke for cutting the fed funds rate to 2% and unleashing yet another wave of inflationary surplus liquidity.

The fallout is now being seen as India, China, the Philippines and Indonesia hike their own interest rates to rein in rising prices.

Consumer prices jumped 7.7% last month, down from 8.5% in April, but inflation there remains top of the list of economic concerns.