US Banking

Stock market investment - Two years ago, I talked to a Canadian bank and they swore to me that the subprime crisis which was surfacing in the U.S. at the time wouldn’t touch them. The bank’s shares have since fallen 40 percent. You can run but you can’t hide.

stock market investment - After falling 35% in 2008, US stocks are now trading at only 10.6 times forecast earnings, well below the historical average. But are they good value yet?

This is no ordinary downturn. After the biggest credit bubble in history, we face a correction on an unimaginable scale. Make no mistake about it: This is a credit-cycle bust that the government cannot stop. The losses are already catastrophic. And the massive unwinding is nowhere near finished yet…

Investors are fleeing the stock market as the rules of the game keep changing. But if you know what the next shift will be, you can stay ahead of the curve. Shah Gilani outlines the five coming “aftershocks” of this financial crisis, and what they mean for your portfolio.

Over in the UK, where the economy is already shrinking, Ben Traynor looks ahead to the world after this downturn. He sees three major changes to the future global economy: 1) A larger role for governments. 2) Less efficient capital allocation. 3) More protectionism, especially in the US, with disastrous consequences for the dollar.

Bob Bauman says the only Swiss banks in trouble are those that abandoned their traditional banking principles and “Americanized” their business. Thankfully, the vast majority retain the strict secrecy laws that will protect your privacy.

The buzz on Capitol Hill is that Congress could pass an updated version of the bailout bill before the end of the week. But Shah Gilani in Money Morning says taxpayers are being “force-fed a political solution, instead of a sound economic market-based solution to a financial crisis.” He says the the bailout bill has eight key failings.

Hank Paulson wants to spend $700 billion to buy up banks bad debt in the hope it can ‘fix’ the crisis on Wall Street. But there are ways to profit from the madness. Martin Hutchinson has picked three winners.

The Unholy trinity - the Federal Reserve, SEC and Treasury - has pulled out all the stops this time. But while US stocks soar, Justice Litle says the government’s bailouts are a death blow for the dollar.

Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson are planning the biggest bailout of financial markets in history. It could cost the taxpayer somewhere in the region of $1 trillion. But the market will triumph over the interventionists, says Bill Bonner.

The US subprime and credit crisis has cost the world over $7.7 trillion, according to a report released in February by Bank of America. The worst could yet be to come. Shah Gilani in Money Morning says the $62 trillion market for credit default swaps (CDS) is a ticking bomb.

Chris Mayer says power-grid builder ABB (NYSE:ABB) and road-building equipment maker Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) are stocks to watch…

“All this debt […] has to be paid back,” says currency expert Chris Gaffney. “And how does the government plan to do this? With cheaper dollars…”

Former hedge fund manager Shah Gilani says corporate assets can be accounted for in multiple ways, at the discretion of management. And this makes comparative analysis nearly impossible. Shah says understanding these tricks is crucial to finding out the true state of any bank’s finances.

Andrew Gordon in Investor’s Daily Edge is bearish on the outlook for the sector. He says banks are still running on empty. And with the rate of foreclosures rising in the US, this is no time to buy in. Steer well clear until the economy picks up……