– The Fed, desperate to relieve the panic that has gripped the credit markets, has almost quadrupled the amount of dollars central banks can auction around the world to $247 billion.

– According to Bloomberg: “The Fed increased the amount of dollars that the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan and other counterparts can offer from $67 billion ‘to address the continued elevated pressures in U.S. dollar short-term funding markets.’ The Bank of England, the Bank of Canada and the Swiss National Bank also participated.”

– This flood of cash seems to have cheered Wall Street. “US stock futures pointed to a stronger start. S&P 500 futures rose 16 points to 1,178.90 and Nasdaq 100 futures improved 21.25 points to 1,668.25. Dow…

Primary Fund “Breaks the Buck;” Samsung’s Hostile Bid; Gold Shines; Oil Rebounds; Construction Slowest in 17 years; Barclays Could Buy More Lehman Assets; GE and Google Go Green; Wachovia Reaches Out to Morgan Stanley

All eyes are on the drama being played out on Wall Street today. But the cause of all the bloodshed was the downturn in the US housing market. This left banks and financial institutions with exposure to toxic subprime loans with a load of worthless securities on their books. This led to writedowns and losses. And the rest is history. Shockingly, given the scale of the crisis, John Maudlin says the housing crisis has a ways to run yet. Alt-A mortgages may the next to fall…

Kerry Killinger yesterday (Monday) was ousted from his position as Chief Executive Officer of Washington Mutual Inc. (WM), the biggest U.S. savings and loan, after a ceaseless torrent of mortgage-related losses resulted in a 90% decline in WaMu stock.

Right now, stocks look uglier than the Wicked Witch of the West having a Bad Hat Day. So what do you do if you’re convinced we’re in a bear market…and stocks may be at today’s levels two to three years from now?

Make no mistake, the boom in finance is over, says Bill Bonner in The Daily Reckoning.

Sure, some banks may bounce back, but they won’t again reach the dizzy profits of the last five years for a long time. During this period banks made billions in profits and bonuses by lending money to people who couldn’t pay it back. Now they are looking to the taxpayer for handouts to cover these bad loans.

So how come nobody on Wall Street has offered to pay back their bonuses?

A hectic week on the economic calendar is highlighted by the initial look at second quarter gross domestic product (GDP). Remember, a recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth, so doomsayers have targeted this week’s release as confirmation of their pessimism.

Earnings and Mr. Bear. Earnings Before Bad Stuff. How Ugly Can it Get? A Lean Mean Reversion Machine. Some Thoughts on Energy. Oregon, Maine and a Wedding.

New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has brought a multi-billion lawsuit against UBS AG (UBS), accusing the Swiss banking giant of pushing billions of dollars in auction-rate securities onto ordinary investors as the market collapsed earlier this year.

Yesterday, the wind come out of Wall Street’s sails.

After gaining nearly 670 points in little over a week, the Dow slumped more than 280 points. Financial stocks made up five of the six biggest decliners. Citigroup (C) dropped nearly 10 percent. American International Group (AIG), Bank of America (BAC), American Express (AXP) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) all fell more than 6 percent.

This comes as little surprise to Taipan Daily editor Justice Litle. He says the latest rally in financial had no substance – except another shorting opportunity when the time is right. Wachovia (WB) is a case in point, says Justice…