Citi sets a record… how it could signal a market bottom by June…Dan Amoss on a “rescue” program that might work as advertised — and even touch off a stock rally… Buffett dispenses more pearls of wisdom… highlights of his annual letter to shareholders… Byron King on the energy crisis the government must solve… soon… U.S. still doesn’t have it that bad… the new Iron Curtain forming in the EU

No follow through on the Eurozone bond idea…  Mirror, mirror on the wall…  AIG to set record for losses…  And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Gold got smacked just a bit harder than normal when trading began in the Far East on Friday morning, but had gained all that back by 3:00 a.m. New York time…then promptly lost in all in the next hour. However, shortly after London opened it appeared that a sustainable rally was underway.

The Bernie Madoff scandal has investors newly terrified of money manager fraud. But fraud is actually not all that hard to avoid – the real lesson goes deeper than that. “Madoff with ya money.”

Gold surged in Far East trading on Tuesday morning, but at precisely 3:00 a.m…again…someone was there to make sure that gold did not get through $750 for any length of time. Gold tried again to break through $750 shortly before the Comex open, but that didn’t happen either.

Gold’s peak price came at 3:00 a.m. Thursday morning New York time…while the thinly traded Hong Kong market was open…and less than half an hour before the London open.

ANOTHER guv’ment bailout… details on the U.S.’ steady march to socialism, and how much it’s costing you…So why AIG and not Lehman?… An options trader’s look into today’s market… and his catalyst for a market rebound… Housing starts plummet to 17-year low… so why are mortgage apps soaring?… Think the U.S. has it bad? Two other nations getting slammed by the global slowdown…The latest bull market emerges in London… floating dead animals

We all know the U.S. government is in debt up to its eyeballs. Moody’s is already threatening to downgrade the country’s debt rating due to unfunded liabilities for Medicare and Social Security.

The chief executive officer of HSBC Holdings PLC (ADR: HBC), Europe’s biggest lender, today (Tuesday) called on the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks to make fighting inflation a priority.

With the London Stock Exchange closed and the Office for National Statistics shut, yesterday’s rainy Bank holiday Monday provided the perfect chance for us to look back at three stories that astounded us last week – but which somehow escaped without comment at the time.