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Fortune.com posted an interesting article about some account changes that Fannie has made that helps to hide an increase in non-performing loans. The disclosures sent the stock down almost 5% on Friday. Clearly, financial institutions are under tremendous strain from defaulting home loans.

Turn up any stone and you will find reason to be down on the prospects for economic and market recovery. Housing is in major crisis; the subprime mess is only now beginning to unfold; inflation – even core inflation – is not a pretty sight; oil will be at $100+ in ten days or so; and the dollar is worthless even in Canada. And these are just some of the indicators of real trouble as we roll into the holiday season. But all these are minor compared to what is just now coming down the road – and I am not talking about international crises and the real probability of terrorist attacks.

Estate tax is really not a worry when you have billions, and almost as many lawyers to help shelter your money. Buffett loves to go before Congress to urge them to reinstate without any changes the death taxes the Republicans have been trying for years to eliminate. He has done this a number of times and the democrats love him for it. But the truth is that he does have little to worry about (because you can be sure his lawyers have protected his wealth), and neither do other very very rich people (who also have plenty of lawyers). But there are a whole lot of us without lawyers on staff and without tons of millions who do not want to be double-taxed at death. It is time to get rid of this tax and, if needed, to tax the daylight out of the very wealth who are cheating the system while they are alive.

News that Apple, Inc. is in discussions with China Mobile will give the stock a massive move up, recovering some of its lost ground. Traders and even long-term investors should consider using this as an opportunity to take profits.

Over the last couple of weeks it's become clear that we are entering a new period of staglation, that horrible condition of low growth and rising inflation that characterized much of the 70s.

Americans are ooing and ahhing over Nicolas Sarkozy and his visit to the US yesterday, but they should be looking at the transcript of what he said and responding.

It used to be that one sure way to put away chunks of money safely and enjoy double or triple tax free income was to invest in municipal bonds. Sure, you paid a slight premium to buy triple A bonds and even a bit more to buy those insured by such dependable giants as MBIA and Ambac. Munis that were triple A, insured were a safe bet, and one you could hold for long periods of time and sleep well. Because they were so highly rated and insured, one never felt the need to look closely at the credit worthiness of the underlying entity, be it hospital, electric authority, city, or university. But those have turned out to be all wrong assumptions in today’s world of credit problems and huge write-offs. It is much the same as if apple pie and motherhood suddenly fell from grace. Much the same, except that in the case of municipal bonds, huge amounts of money (money people felt was safely put away), are at great risk.

It seems like the bidding on TeleAtlas is just beginning now.

Cheng Siwei, vice chairman of China's National People's Congress, told a conference in Beijing the country should improve the structure of its $1.43 trillion of foreign reserves by favoring stronger currencies. This is another impact of the recent rates cuts of the Fed, The dollar is collapsing and the momentum of this collapse is accelerating.

More bad news for MRK and SGP. A presentation which hadn't gathered any pre-meeting publicity shows that cutting zetia in half can half costs, while not altering affect on lipids.