There’s one thing you can almost always count on with the government: Coming late to the party.

Last week I tried to open a savings account for my son. The credit union offered me a 1% interest rate… If I had given my money to the credit union, I would have guaranteed my son a 5% annual loss.

More grim news for the struggling US economy: The number of foreclosures just keeps on rising. This from The Wall Street Journal:

The number of foreclosed homes owned by lenders continues to rise despite signs that they are increasingly willing to slash prices to sell those properties.

The US dollar looks set to make a second straight monthly advance against the yen and euro as gains in stocks showed traders are cautiously optimistic the economy may not slide into recession after all.

“The idea that the Fed will continue to cut rates has been completely put to bed and the market is now flirting with the idea of a rate hike. That has given the dollar a boost,” said Alan Ruskin, head of international currency strategy at RBS Greenwich Capital Markets in Connecticut, in Bloomberg. More from that story:

A typical financial tale – where nothing goes as hoped for, and everything goes as it should…*** The rise of speculative capital…pumping up a bubble with a chip on its shoulder…*** The three vicious cycles we must face…an interesting TIME cover…and more!

In the currency market, the dollar firmed for a third straight day against the euro. Late Thursday, the euro was trading at $1.5501 vs. $1.564 on Wednesday.

Kohn gives the wink and nod… GDP is revised up to .09%… Dollar Bulls dancing in the streets… Oil prices fall…

The Fed has announced that it will make more short-term cash loans to banks to try to ease the ongoing credit crisis. This from AP:

The Fed said it will conduct three auctions in June, with each one making $75 billion available in short-term cash loans. Banks can bid for a slice of the available funds. It would mark the latest round in a program that the Fed launched in December to help banks overcome credit problems so they will keep lending to customers.

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 0.9% in the first quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) announced yesterday (Wednesday).

Just one day after Money Morning predicted that the U.S. Federal Reserve would soon be forced to increase interest rates, Dallas Fed President Richard W. Fisher said he expected the central bank would raise interest rates should inflationary pressures start causing severe consumer pain.