The news just keeps getting worse, and I note with dismay that the latest report of initial claims for unemployment are 516,000 - well past the psychologically-important half-million mark - personal bankruptcies averaged “4,936 per business day in October” - which is up 8% from September and 34% more than October 2007.

Executives from Detroit’s “Big Three” auto companies – General Motors Corp. (GM), Ford Motor Co. (F), and Chrysler LLC – yesterday (Tuesday) joined Congressional Democrats on Capitol Hill to make the case for an industry-wide bailout that could spare their troubled companies from totally collapsing. Detroit’s bigwigs have been met with considerable resistance so far, but will continue to make their case today and into the New Year.

G20 largely a non-event…  Pound moves up…  Brazil falls on sell off of emerging markets…  Japan enters recession… And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Stocks stage huge rally, but will it hold? Key levels to watch, and some historic perspective… Libor continues to ease; famous Wall Street CEO explains why credit still isn’t flowing… John Williams on the “true cost” of the U.S. financial crisis, with charts to prove it… Byron King with an “exploding” foreign resource market…. Plus, a stinging critique of I.O.U.S.A., and one thing you must do before voting Nov. 4.

In the currency market, the dollar slipped against the euro. Late Thursday, the euro was trading at $1.2917 vs. $1.2837 on Wednesday.

Gold declined through the first hour of New York trading yesterday, briefly dipping below the $700 mark, but then pushed quickly back over $720 and spent most of the day hovering around that level, finishing at $721.10, down $7.10. Overnight, gold is sharply lower.

China’s exports advanced at a 28% pace in May, despite growing economic turbulence in the United States and Europe, underscoring yet again that the Asian giant doesn’t need Western markets to flourish.

The dollar’s decline against the Euro and other major currencies has dominated the financial news. In the past two years the Euro has gained about 25 percent against the dollar and the Wan about 18 percent since 2005.

Just as it was during the credit crunch, the biggest beneficiary of the next wave of the financial crisis and the ensuing panic will be gold and precious metals.

We’ve got a lot to remember and a lot to reckon with on this Memorial Day…the richest man in the world travels to Europe to seek out better investments…The Oracle of Omaha could write for The Daily Reckoning…putting the squeeze on the American family… Checking in on Cuba…and more!