Bellwethers Report Disappointing Earnings; Morgan Stanley on the Hunt for Regional Banks; NYT Reports Loss; Pentagon Computers Hacked; FDIC Ready to Replace Pandit; TARP Faces Fraud; Financial Institutions Lost $4.1 trillion; India Cuts Rates

I was captivated by the Wall Street Journal headline “Bearish Big Investors Catch Gold Bug” by Gregory Zuckerman, because I don’t ever expect to see anything favorable about gold in the WSJ…

In a sign that the planned construction of new nuclear reactors in the U.S. market could jump-start the nation’s moribund manufacturing sector, France’s Areva SA and defense-industry giant Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) have formed a joint venture to make nuclear reactor vessels, steam generators and other related components at Northrop’s Newport News shipyard in Virginia.

I explained that, yes, I had my foot on the accelerator, but the car went fast all by itself! In fact, the more I stepped on the accelerator, the faster the car went! It’s obviously one of the mysteries of the universe!

52-Week T-Bill is Back; Sweet-Smelling Deal for FTD; First Family of Oil Calls for Environmental Focus; Garmin Losing Track; PepsiCo. Stocking up on Water; Bovespa Hits Record on S&P Rating; Kraft Profit Tumbles 13%; Kellogg Profit Sheds 2%.

Sky-high default rates om mortgages are not confined to subprime-related borrowing, and the US economy has yet to feel the full force of the housing crisis, according to a report in the The Wall Street Journal.

According to the WSJ, there is a “rapid rise” in default rates on ARM mortgages,  mortgages that give borrowers with good credit several different monthly-payment options, reports. And a report by Citigroup says losses on ARMs may be “close to subprime” in some cases.

I ripped into the Wall Street Journal last week in my blog. In a front-page article, it decried the “downside” of hospitals popping up all over the country at a time when our factories are slowly but surely disappearing.

“Inflation is back,” reports The Wall Street Journal.

But it’s complicated, says the paper, because today’s inflation is “coming at a time of sharply reduced interest rates in the US, the opposite of the usual response to rising inflaton.”

Consumer prices in the U.S., Europe and other rich countries are projected to rise 2.6% this year, the highest inflation rate since 1995, the International Monetary Fund said Wednesday.

Days after Bernanke pronounces the worst over, here comes another rescue package. Greenspan says, “It’s not my fault,” as if he hadn’t already made himself clear. Chris Mayer lays out his favorite “distressed” plays to BusinessWeek. Mainstream media picks up on our end-of-cheap-food theme.New commodity boom: Fast-food grease.

The Fed may have already begun its role as Wall Street ’supercop.’

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Fed has sent agents into major Wall Street investment banks to makes sure of the banks’ financial wellbeing.

“We want to be sure that any lending we do to the investment banks will be done on an appropriately sound basis,” said Fed chief Ben Bernanke.

The Fed has is lending money to investment banks, even though it currently has no statutory regulatory power over them.