The bank failure scene in the U.S. turned a shade uglier over the weekend. By this time tomorrow, it’ll probably be even worse.

Goldman earned more than $1 billion a month in the second quarter – much of it from scavenging on fixed income, currency and commodities deals created by the credit crisis.

Gold steadied on Monday after falling 3 percent last week, supported by scepticism about an economic recovery, but the dollar remained a downside risk.

Last week, Mr. Bernanke announced that the Federal Reserve would buy $300 billion worth of U.S. Treasuries and another $700 billion worth of government-agency mortgage debt. In order to finance these purchases, the Federal Reserve would simply create this money out of thin air.

After falling 35% in 2008, US stocks are now trading at only 10.6 times forecast earnings, well below the historical average. But are they good value yet? Martin Hutchinson says it will depend on the sector and country. He picks the biggest bull and bear markets for 2009.

Unless you’re a turkey, Thanksgiving is usually a happy holiday. But Bill Bonner says the crumbling economy leaves all of us fearing the axe this year. The global credit crisis has taken us into unchartered territory. And government bailouts will only draw out the inevitable correction.

Oxford Club’s Alex Green explains how Wall Street’s supposedly safe structured products became an investor’s nightmare. In reality, they were just a gimmick. Alex says this just underscores why investors should be cautious of any product that comes with “guaranteed” returns.

From Reuters we get the headline “The Banks Are Cheating Us”, with the subhead “Hong Kong investors protest Lehman Brothers losses”, which made me laugh, “Hahahaha!” and think, “Welcome to the real world, Hong Kong chumps!”

Let’s face it — penny stocks get a bad rap in the financial news media. But despite what the pundits tell you, the jabs at cheap stocks are rarely justified. It’s time to bust Five Myths About Penny Stocks.

More than one-seventh of all the silver bullion ‘thought to exist’ in the whole world was suddenly bought up in less than a year, and yet the price of silver has been pounded down to less than 10 bucks an ounce? No wonder I am so bullish on silver!