by Jeff Miller

I am going to take a little risk with my recent hot streak on the WTWA series. I am not highlighting Greece as the key story.

It would be easy to say that we will be focused on Greece, since that is the issue as I write this on Saturday night. There will probably be some sort of resolution by mid-week. Whatever it is, most will not be convinced.

The market seems to have digested the European story: No immediate threat of systemic risk, less risk for Italy and Spain, attention shifting to European recession/growth and impact on world markets. Regular readers know that this is what I have been predicting for nearly a year -- the incremental solution.

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by Trefis Staff

Below is a summary of the activity on Trefis during the past week that we thought you would find interesting. Trefis is a financial community structured around trends, forecasts and insights related to some of the most popular stocks in the US. It provides the unique feature of allowing the user to model future valuation based upon projected changes in components of each business. It also provides communication capabilities among members, including consensus of member analysis compared toTrefis staff analysis and blogging opportunities for members.

Click on graphic for larger image and go to Trefis for interactive page.

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by Guest Author Dwaine van Vuuren, PowerStocks Investment Research

At the end of September 2011, ECRI made a recession call which left the impression recession was imminent. With a track record like theirs there was very little challenging argument. Two days later, the S&P-500 bottomed and rose and incredible 22% since.

In December 2011, ECRI "dialled down" their call to "within 9 months". Just how much recession warning is useful? It is understandable that long 10-12 month warnings would be useful for governments and some business leaders planning factory/infrastructure build-outs or acquisitions, but is this true for the stock market participant? How many thousands of investors heeded the recession call and are sitting in disbelief on the side-lines (or heavily hedged) in this rally wondering when the recession is going to arrive and vindicate their decisions?

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by Guest Author Gregory Hines

As politicians, institutional investors, and policy makers grapple with the current sovereign debt crisis and its effect on global markets, another problem half a world away is threatening to shake global financial markets in a similar manner. In its Global Financial Stability Report, the IMF reported that China is facing an impending credit crisis due to its loose lending policies to local governments.

Prior to 2008, China experienced a credit and construction boom fueled by low rates and easy lending policies to local government authorities. According to the IMF, China experienced one of the highest rates in credit expansion from 2009-2010. In addition, China has an extremely high level of gross debt which is roughly 173 % of GDP as of the end of June.

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by Guest Author Shah Gilani, Money Morning

What may be good news for delinquent credit card holders may also be really bad news for banks.

It turns out the "robo-signing" of foreclosure affidavits is just the tip of the iceberg.

In what one judge called "robo-testimony," falsely attested-to statements by bank document custodians have been submitted in courts around the country by banks trying to win judgments against delinquent credit card debtors.

Apparently, tens of millions of credit cards issued by banks have not been accompanied by good recordkeeping, either.

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