European and Asian stocks extended last week’s rally on Monday and crude oil marched higher after U.S. economic news and stronger-than-expected data from the euro zone spurred expectations for economic recovery.

Risk aversion returned to markets on Thursday, supporting the U.S. dollar and government bonds, after mixed economic data, while concern about the possible failure of a small U.S. lender sparked caution following the week’s robust gains in stocks.

“We’ve averted” the risk of a depression, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said this week. “Now the problem is to get the thing working properly again.”

As Senate Republicans and Democrats continue to bicker over the details of President Barack Obama’s stimulus plan, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner waits in the wings ready to unveil yet another bank bailout bill. 

President-elect Barack Obama yesterday (Monday) formally unveiled his economic team, including the nomination of New York Federal Reserve Bank President Timothy F. Geithner as the new administration’s U.S. Treasury secretary. The team’s first challenge will be assembling an economic stimulus package that could be even larger than the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) the Bush Administration has deployed.

Survey; U.S. began recession in April; Target 3Q Profit Down 24%; Merrill Lowers 2009 Brazil Growth to 2.9%; Hong Kong Officially in Recession; SEC Charges Cuban with Insider Trading; Lowe’s Revenue Climbs; October Industrial Output Rises

It was January 1934. The Great Depression was five years old – but still had another five years to run.
The carnage was horrific: From 1929 to 1934, U.S. personal income plunged 44%, real output nosedived 30% and the unemployment rate soared to 25% of the American labor force.

Federal Reserve policymakers yesterday (Wednesday) reduced the benchmark Federal Funds rate to 1.0%, an aggressive half-percentage-point cut that central bank Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s latest attempt to keep the widening financial crisis from tipping the world into a global recession.