After optimists talked up rising housing starts for several months as green shoots, improving conditions, etc., reality came knocking in full force with the New Residential Construction Report For October 2009 . BUILDING PERMITS Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in Oc ... Read more

Hedge fund guru John Paulson is making a big move into gold, launching a new fund that focuses on shares of gold miners and other gold-related shares and gold derivatives , The Wall Street Journal reports. Paulson’s hedge fund is already a “major holder” of gold shares, i ... Read more

While one of the world’s best investors, John Paulson, is making a big bet on gold, another — Warren Buffett — is looking elsewhere. David Pett of Canada’s Financial Post notes that Berkshire Hathaway’s latest holdings disclosure “indicates that the world’s ... Read more

Welcome to Jay Norris’ Forex Trend Maps, a recap of the Forex Markets daily, posted after 4:30 PM (CST). For more information, please contact Jay at 1-800-971-2154 or at 312-896-3986. Click on the link below to view today’s charts and hear Jay’s analysis. http://www.sc ... Read more

November 19, 2009 Dollar Loses Ground to Euro, but Finishes Mixed Versus Others The EUR USD posted a sizable gain. Tuesday’s supportive comments from European Central Bank President Trichet were not enough to stop the Dollar’s slide today. Matters weren’t helped after Lux ... R ... Read more

This evening at 7pm ET: SENATE DEMS HEALTHCARE BILL CNBC’s Hampton Pearson reports. BY THE NUMBER$…THE CBO BREAKDOWN Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) will join us. WILL OBAMA-CARE SACRIFICE STANDARDS? Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) will join us. IS INFLATION COMING BACK? Does the ... Read t ... Read more

Islamic Finance: Lower Risk, But at What Cost? - BusinessWeek: "Financial products based on 8th-century religious laws may seem an unlikely haven during a global crisis. But Islamic banking and financial services, based on traditional Muslim laws known as Sharia, are enjoying a major resurgence. ... Read more

Each week, I take a look at which stocks my Validea.com Guru Strategy computer models have newfound interest in, and which they have soured on. Here’s a look at some of the stocks that my strategies have upgraded or downgraded today. Among the big-name movers: Eaton Corp. and Barnes & N ... Read more

In what should be no surprise, banks are cutting back on small business loans. Please consider Small business loans: $10 billion evaporates . Eight months after President Obama began prodding the nation's banks to increase their small business lending, the loan numbers continue to move in the oppos ... Read more

Salesforce (CRM) produced excellent results but disappointed some of their exceptionally greedy shareholder base who expected better. The stock was at or near is 52 week high and reports of 20% increase in revenues in a terrible economy were not satisfactory to this very tough crowd. Who managed tho ... Read more