The Daily Reckoning’s currency expert Chuck Butler says the dollar is being taken to the woodshed. The greenback is losing ground against all major currencies as the credit crisis continues to wreak havoc in the U.S economy. Chuck says disappointing inflation or retail sales data this week will send the dollar to new depths…

Crude oil for July delivery traded at an all-time high of $139.12 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange today (Friday), after the U.S. dollar nosedived on speculation that the European Central Bank would raise its key lending rate and on worries that a bigger-than-expected spike in unemployment meant the U.S. economy was far weaker than feared.

With a wheezing economy that’s struggling with housing and credit problems - as well as a weak dollar - it’s clear the United States won’t be in the investment spotlight this year.

Gold prices have skidded about 15% since the “yellow metal” hit an all-time record of $1,032 an ounce on St. Patrick’s Day.

Folks have three things on their minds this weekend: food prices, gas prices and Kimbo Slice. In other words, consumer sentiment hits 28-year lows and the only relief in sight is pure, unadulterated violence on CBS.

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While communist China is busy smashing protests in occupied Tibet, the country’s currency, the renminbi, is making record gains agains the US dollar.

By bailing out Wall Street and applying “band-aids” to the economy, the U.S. Federal Reserve may well be causing its own downfall - even as it hastens the demise of the greenback as a viable global currency, investment guru Jim Rogers told Money Morning during an exclusive interview.

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.

Gold futures have shed over 4% so far today in what MarkeWatch is calling “a broad-based commodities sell-off.”

According to the site, “gold for June delivery tumbled $41.80, or 4.5%, to $879.70 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Other metals futures were also sharply lower, with platinum selling off 7%.”

Read on at MarketWatch.com