Now that the results of the U.S. bank stress tests are finally in the books, the extent of the capital shortfalls are known and – in many cases – are actually being addressed.

Despite the worry of a flu pandemic, a unexpectedly large contraction in US GDP and a recent prediction by the IMF that US banks’ loan losses would top $2.7 trillion, the world, as Justice Litle puts it in Taipan Daily, “is pounding the table for a V-shaped recovery.”

The dollar continues to rally…  Loan ratios figure big now…  Bank nationalization returns to Germany…  Gold pushes the envelope further… And Now… Today’s Pfennig!