Chris Weber: don’t bet your retirement on stocks right now DailyWealth

Porter Stansberry explains the forces behind the current rally The Daily Crux

America is running out of rope The Market Ticker

The world financial system’s Achilles’ heel The Daily Reckoning

Roubini on a U shaped recovery Naked Capitalism

Larry Flynt calls for a national strike The Huffington Post

Look for an X shaped recovery Real Clear Markets

The risk of double dip recession rising Financial Times

What the stress tests didn’t predict NYT

Banks aren’t getting out of the TARP as easy as they got in. According to Bloomberg, the feds have demanded that banks “raise specific amounts of new capital before repaying taxpayer funds, applying a more stringent assessment than the stress tests in May.”

While everyone else has been focused on the banks’ stress tests and how much government is spending to bail out troubled “too big to fails,” a disturbing trend on the other side of the equation is now emerging: how much (or rather, how little) the U.S. government is receiving in tax revenues.

Risk Assets soar!  German Investor Confidence surprises!  High yielders kicking tail…  Who’s afraid of the SNB? And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

GM CEO Says Bankruptcy “Probable;” Wal-Mart Posts Flat 1Q Profit; BT Group Cuts Jobs, Dividend; PNC to Sell Stock, Raise Capital; GM, Chrysler Closures to Idle 50,000 Workers; Madoff Trustee to Pay Investors $100 Million; Oil Falls on IEA Forecast

Even though the government stress tests have ended and the banks in question have set about raising the required capital, credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s believes the nation’s banking crisis has “merely entered a new phase” and might not end before 2013.

In an odd bit of capitalist irony, the U.S. banking crisis could end up as the catalyst that finally jump-starts the long-moribund market for initial public stock offerings (IPOs).  In fact, it already appears to be happening.

Home Prices Record Plunge; U.S. Trade Gap Grows; Social Security Funds Running Out Early; Citigroup Lends Most TARP Money; Big Shipper Maersk Posts Loss; EU To Do Bank Stress Tests

Did you miss the perfect insider buying opportunity? You might have.  Over the past two months stocks have climbed almost 40%. After hitting historical lows – and being completely oversold – the markets have been clawing their way back up, week by week.