As recently as February, General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) had hopes of maintaining its dividend payout.  “We’ve got the cash flow to pay the dividend,” GE Chief Executive Officer Jeffery Immelt said in a Feb. 5 interview with The Wall Street Journal.

Agricultural Bank of China Raises $7.3 Billion; Banks Applying to Repay TARP; Fiat CEO Confident About Opel Bid; World Bank Prez Sees Year-End Recovery; Derivatives Shrink to $592 Trillion; GE Reaches Debt Funding Goals for 2009; UAW & GM Still at Odds on Labor Agreement; Home Depot Beats Street

Railroad companies have been some the best performers in the recent rally of U.S. equities. Canadian National Railway (NYSE: CNI) CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX), and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (NYSE: BNI) – a favorite of Warren Buffett – are all up a about 30% since early March.

Bernanke Sees Late-09 Turnaround; Canadian Dollar Hits Six-Month High; Kraft Beats 1Q Estimates; South Africa Unemployment Hits 23.5%; Service Sector Gains Ground; AIG’s First Quarter Loss Expected to Shrink; Some Traders Oppose Up-Tick Rule; Chile’s Peso Rallies to 7-Month High Against Dollar

“Cash is king,” as the old investment adage goes. Question is: How do you go about getting it – especially in a tough climate like this one? After all, cash is only king if you have it.

In the energy market on Friday, oil was slightly higher, with crude for May delivery closing at $50.33/barrel, up 35 cents. May reformulated gasoline rose 1.84 cents, to $1.4927/gallon.

When it comes to the U.S. stock market right now, the story continues to be about earnings. And this week will be no exception.

Gold was higher in the far East on Monday, flattened out in London, but took off once New York opened and continued to rise to a peak of $900 at noon, at which point it was driven down and declined through the rest of the Comex and went flat on the Globex, finishing at $892.60/oz., up $13.40. Overnight, gold has been flat.

This promises to be a very busy week with a full calendar of economic reports and earnings announcements, so let’s dive right in and highlight some of the more important ones.

The saga on the high seas continued… As much of the world continued to monitor the story of the American cargo ship that was captured by Somali pirates and held its captain hostage, the increase in piracy has sparked a fascinating conversation.