In Q2 2008 - for the first time ever - the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted quarterly losses instead of earnings. The Dow’s price-to-earnings ratio is now listed as “Nil,” leaving Wall Street without its favorite valuation metric for blue chip companies, says Casey Research’s Doug Casey.

The Chinese economy is showing signs of a slowdown, says Jason Simpkins in Money Morning. And despite the hype of the Olympic games, the Shanghai Stock Exchange is tumbling. Given the size of the economy, China needs to grow at over 8% annually to create enough jobs. This means a rumored $58-billion government-sponsored stimulus package looks more and more likely…

The U.S. financial crisis has cut so deep - and the government has taken on so much debt in misguided attempts to bail out companies such as Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) - that even larger financial shocks are still to come, global investing guru Jim Rogers said in an exclusive interview with Money Morning.

Although consumers and businesses have gotten a bit of a reprieve at the gas pump as of late, says William Patalon in Money Morning, the escalation in oil prices we’ve seen over the past year has led to some major changes in overall consumer behavior. Many car-owners have dumped their gas-guzzling pickup trucks and SUVs at the nearest used-car lot and used the proceeds to buy some gas-sipping rides.

As we’ve said here before, the US stock markets are extremely volatile right now.

Yesterday, US stocks, led by the financials, snapped back following two straight days of losses. Traders, it seems, are a confused bunch. They’re caught between declining crude oil prices and slowing global growth.

Eric Roseman in The Sovereign Society, however, says stocks are about to muster a bear market bottom this summer. And the indicators are now bullish for common stocks. Here’s how he can tell…