Home prices fall… again. The latest record-setting swan dives… Chris Mayer on how to spot the bottom… and what to buy when it comes… World’s biggest companies hold shockingly little cash… global market in the hands of Buffett, China… But can China capitalize? Byron King on how China has “reached its pinnacle”… Russian professor predicts end of U.S. by 2010… will Houston be taking orders from Mexico City? Plus, your prophecies for 2009… and The 5’s editors issue a forecasting challenge

Bailout fuels a rally… How long the rally last?  A slew of data today…  Thoughts from Jim Rogers… And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Expect more pain in the housing market next year, says Don Miller. Rising unemployment will keep the foreclosures coming. And as the backlog of inventories swells, Don says homebuilders still look ripe for shorting in this environment.

U.S. stocks futures fell this morning despite yesterday’s barnstormer rally and heavy hints of a further rate cut by the Fed. “S&P 500 futures dropped 21 points to 917.70 and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 32.5 points to 1,275.50. Dow industrial futures dropped 200 points to 8,889.00,” according to MarketWatch.

Why inflation is bad news for the high street. You’d expect the slump in the housing market to take its toll on the high street. And indeed it has.

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…

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Today’s market action offers us a simple lesson: markets better than governments.

The base metals were mixed again on Wednesday. Copper had some big ups and downs but in the end was little changed as it finished at $3.6206/lb., down a penny and a half.

Would-be first-time buyers have had a hard time of it. They want to buy a house, but time and again many are thwarted by the same problem. They can’t afford to buy a house. Not being able to afford something is a very common problem in markets.

It never rains, it pours. Hot on the heels of the Bradford and Bingley saga, we wake up today to the news that mortgage lending has hit a record low.