President-elect Barack Obama said Saturday that an analysis of his stimulus proposal found that the capital infusion could save or create as many as 4 million U.S. jobs by 2010, nearly 90% of them in the private sector.

CBO forecasts $1.2 Trillion Budget deficit!  And we can expect more!  ADP shows job losses mounting big time!  Brazil’s real reverses course… And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Look at the economic goings-on that take place on this, the third rock from the Sun…The Dow is up again – could this be the beginning of a major rally?…pinning hopes on a stimulus package…much talk of cutting taxes, but not of cutting spending…Find a premise that is wrong, and bet against it…for gold bugs, it’s now or never…and more!

When China announced its colossal $600-billion stimulus package back in November, we cautioned investors against irrational exuberance on the overall impact it would have on commodities, stocks and heavy equipment.

Markets kick off 2009 with sizable rally… what’s behind the best New Year’s rally since 2003…  Obama bounce back in effect… Rob Parenteau on whether his $1 trillion plan will actually work… Dan Amoss on the difference between shorting in 2008 and 2009… Bullish factors for gold (and gold stocks) for 2009… The second wave cometh… more troublesome commercial real estate ripples on the horizon.

Debt prices plummet, dollar gains… U.S. stocks fall on profit-taking but rise in Europe…  Dollar at 3-week high vs euro on hopes for stimulus plan… Oil gains as Gaza fighting raises Mideast supply worries.

No surprise from the Federal Reserve.  Well, not really. Bernanke & Co. did as everyone expected them to do and slashed U.S. interest rates. But it was the size of the cut – from 1% to a record low of 0.25% that caught some folks off guard.

In its latest effort to maintain an annual economic growth rate of 8%, China announced new plans to stimulate the country’s ailing real estate sector.

President-elect Barack Obama yesterday (Thursday) named Mary L. Schapiro – a strong proponent of protections for individual investors – to head the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission when his administration takes office next month, the biggest of three nominations with potential financial crisis implications.

A Santa Rally for the currencies?…  Waiting for the FOMC…  AUD and NZD rally…  China to try and keep growth above 8%… And Now… Today’s Pfennig!