Ian Mathias (The Daily Reckoning):
The U.S. government will finish its historic streak of debt sales today with a record $16 billion offering of 30-year bonds. This will pile on top the $65 billion in 3-year and 10-year paper auctioned earlier this week, both records in their own right.

The results of the government’s bank stress tests were released yesterday (Thursday), and the U.S. Federal Reserve has directed 10 banks to raise an aggregate $70 billion-plus in capital.

Charitable as the thought might be, Washington simply doesn’t have deep enough pockets to bail out every deadbeat. Did you really think it would stop at a mere trillion for the banks?

The dominoes are falling, says Adam Lass in Taipan Daily.

The housing market is still a shambles, nine U.S. banks have failed so far this year, and Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) are all but nationalized. What’s more, the world’s central bankers can’t agree on what caused this mess, let along how to fix it.

But amid the gloom and doom, Adam says put options on MetLife (NYSE:MET), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) and Capital One (NYSE:COF) can still yield triple-digit gains…

ADP Paints Positive Job Picture; MetLife Buys into Mortgages; United’s Ongoing Cost Battle; Smucker Strikes a Deal with P&G; U.S. Service Sector Continues to Grow; Emerson Abandons Bid for Chloride; Bob Evans Serves Meaty 4Q Profits; Icahn Moves to Replace Yahoo’s Yang