Another day, another round of bad news from the brokers and the banks.

If the Aussie market follows the U.S. lead today, look out. Before we break for lunch here in Colorado, stocks in New York are taking a beating. The Dow Jones Industrials are down nearly 200 points. And it’s such a nice day out, too.

It’s over. The bear-market rally of the past two months ended last week.

Congratulations Aussie dollar. You’ve made a 24-year high. The terms of trade is throwing you a party later this year. Will you be brining parity with you?

Watch out, bears! The bulls are ready to roll up their sleeves. That was the message in Thursday’s big push higher last week.

The mood seems to be lifting. A more optimistic tone in the Sunday papers…a prod of encouragement from the Bank of England…and now global equities are surging.

Is the U.S. Fed done cutting rates? The commodities market seems to think so. Gold, platinum, palladium and silver all fell by the end of New York trading. Even oil was off its all-time highs though still above US$115.

The Bear Stearns rescue and the Treasury department’s call for a new “blueprint”  have helped ignite a rally in financial stocks… but it seems nothing can kickstart the dollar.

US markets marked the strongest second quarter start since 1938, reports Money Morning.

The rally in financial stocks led the three major indexes to post gains of more than 3%.

At the New York close, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average Index had posted a gain of 391.96 points (3.20%), to close at 12,654.85.

Investors are rushing back into stocks, reports AP, causing the Dow Jones industrials to surge more than 300 points on the first day of the second fiscal quarter.

Financial stocks were among the big winners after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Switzerland’s UBS AG issued new stock to help bolster their balance sheets. With that upbeat news and a fresh quarter ahead of them, investors appear quite willing to make some bets that the worst of the damage from the nation’s credit struggles has been felt. Moreover, the moves buttressed the view that financial services companies are taking aggressive action to improve their capital bases and stave off the potential of a collapse similar to Bear Stearns Cos. Analysts believe there…