India Cuts Repurchase Rate to 5%; Private Employers Cut 697,000 Jobs in Feb.; U.S. Auto Sales Down 41% in February; Oil Rallies to Six-year High; Merrill’s Top 10 Execs Paid $209 Million Last Year

Renowned investor George Soros said Friday the world financial system has effectively disintegrated, and there’s no near-term bottom to this financial crisis in sight.

After a two-day “holiday” to start the week–Martin Luther King Day today (Monday) and Inauguration Day tomorrow (Tuesday)–it’ll be back to business on Wednesday as Congress begins to grill U.S. Treasury Secretary nominee Timothy Geithner – the appointment many observers believe to be the most important of the new Barack Obama administration.

After receiving hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded federal bailout money, the biggest U.S. banks say they can’t track how that money is being spent. Some of the banks are outright refusing to discuss the matter, a new study has found.

The economic calendar wastes no time getting off to a busy start in the first full week of 2009.  The Construction Spending report for November this morning leads off the week, and carrying over from last year, it should show a continued slowdown. Until the housing market stabilizes, and the credit markets unfreeze, money simply won’t be spent on new construction. Since neither of those options looks likely to occur anytime soon, 2009 could be another long year for the construction industry.

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.

Two major U.S. banking deals were completed yesterday (Thursday), enabling the suitors to finalize the deals before 2008 came to a close. Bank of America Corp. (BAC) completed its purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. (MER), creating the largest U.S. bank – as well as the biggest challenge yet for longtime BofA Chief Executive Officer Kenneth D. Lewis.

Oil prices have fallen 70% since hitting a record $147.27 a barrel in July, which means in just five months, crude has given up all the price gains it made in the past four years.

If there’s a proverb that captures the outlook for the U.S. economy in the New Year, it’s the one that says: “It’s always darkest before the dawn.”

Oil prices could fall as low as $20 a barrel in early 2009, says Jason Simpkins. But don’t expect these low prices to last long. Dwindling investment will prompt a longer-term supply crunch, which will send crude to new record highs. Jason gives seven ways to profit from this coming spike.