U.S. stocks suffered their first weekly loss since May last week, further exacerbating trader concern that the bullish surge that sent share prices up as much as 40% from their March lows may have been overdone.

It’s clear to at least some that banks can’t subsidize the banks forever. So where does that leave bank share prices? It’s a valid question, even if it can’t be heard right now over the din of champagne corks popping and the chorus of Hallelujahs wafting up over Wall Street and the White House.

Many investors want to get rid of mark-to-market accounting rules. Sure it will create a one-time trading opportunity. But in the end, it will only make things worse and could cost us all a lot of money.

Being a writer in the financial industry means that your words often come back to haunt you.

The name “Nifty Fifty” came to represent the “one-decision” stocks of the early 1970s. They were the Cokes and the Disneys of the world… Fifty names you always bought simply because you couldn’t go wrong owning them. Or so investors thought…

Gold had another lackluster day, slumping to $865 just after New York opened, then making its way higher in fits and starts, finishing just into positive territory at $878.00/oz., up 60 cents. Overnight, gold has fallen off.

Following close on the heels of my article ‘AIM – The Exodus Begins’ (May 20th) in which I criticised the London Stock Exchange for chasing new entrants to AIM rather than taking care of those companies already there, it has come up with a new initiative which it promises can offer the latter ‘huge value’.

We’re in the middle of a recession and there are a ton of expensive stocks on the market. Are they worth it? I just did a search of companies with price-to-earnings (P/E) ratios of over 100. These stocks are pricey. Buying reasonably priced companies in the best of times can be tricky.

Why are some companies starting to get real excited? Don’t they know what happens when the financial system goes dryer than Ms. Spears in rehab?

It’s time to re-approach bank takeovers in this market. Instead of betting on share prices to increase in anticipation of takeovers, it may now be time to go short on banking stocks as soon as the word buyout is mentioned.