Fed sets target for buying mortgage-backed securities… Initial jobless claims fall more than expected… S&P 500 futures up 0.4 pct, Dow futures up 0.2 pct, Nasdaq futures off 0.3 pct

Goldman cuts 2009 oil price forecast… OPEC should make severe output cut, says president… Russia says ready to work with OPEC on output cuts

Oil rallies after near $100 drop since July…  OPEC’s Khelil says possible no output decision in Cairo…  U.S. shares higher

Following an historic election, we take a moment to examine just what an Obama presidency will mean to the United States – what we have to look forward to, and how he will deal with our current financial crisis. And according Jim Davidson, some of the numbers just don’t add up.

This week saw Lehman Brothers replace two of its top executives: CFO Erin Callan and COO Joseph Gregor. The two will remain at the bank in lesser roles.

“As recently as a month ago,” says Justice Litle in Taipan Daily, “Erin Callan was on top of the world.”

The WSJ did a glowing piece on her rise through the ranks. Condé Nast’s Portfolio magazine dubbed her the most powerful woman on Wall Street.

There is a 95% chance that the US economy will enter a recession, according to a report in BusinessWeek magazine.

Jennifer Yousfi in Money Morning gives some background and examines strategies for recession proof investing:

U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers cut the benchmark interest rate by less-than-expected three-quarters of a percentage point at their last meeting, a move that was designed to energize a badly flagging economy without causing inflation to spike or exacerbating the greenback’s decline.

America is an albatross around the neck of a great many Asian countries. But where China throws its money – success and profits flourish. We’ve seen it in the far east – and it now looks like we’re about to see it in Africa… If you’re fast enough you can be part of the next success story.

A new report by Paris-based economic think tank the OECD warns of a severe house price crash in the UK.

The report predicts that UK house prices will crash by 10% by 2010 and that, with consumer spending slowing, the Bank of England will eventually need to cut interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point to 4.25% next year.

Ben Traynor in The Daily Reckoning explains how a house price crash in the UK will affect the country’s economy…

Lehman Brothers, the fourth largest US investment bank, is at the centre of a storm of bad news stories.

Shares in the Wall Street powerhouse tumbled 31% last month on the NYSE on expections of heavy Q2 losses and the likelihood that the bank will have to raise cash to cover subprime-related writedowns. However, unlike rival Bear Stearns, the word on the Street is that Lehman will survive.

“On Wall Street, after Bear Stearns fainted, the other financial firms took smelling salts,” says Bill Bonner in The Daily Reckoning.

You likely know that my specialty niche is Canadian resource exploration stocks. These small cap companies are notoriously volatile. They aren’t quite free these days but they are ridiculously cheap.