The Japanese yen was the biggest mover and gainer amongst the majors this past week by a long shot.

Over the past weeks and months, it has become blatantly clear that Europe’s second largest economy is struggling to pull itself out of its deep recession.

The Swiss franc traded to fresh yearly highs against the US dollar and near multi-month peaks against the euro on a broad flight to safety across key financial markets.

Will the feds succeed in causing inflation? Or will they fail? Will the dollar continue to go down? Or will it prove to be a safe haven currency in a time of deflationary trouble?

The trouble with being a contrarian is that you can never be quite contrarian enough.

US consumers are cutting back, and where they are not cutting back, they are scaling down.

Consumers aren’t borrowing anymore.  Consumer credit is going the other way, shrinking rather than growing.

This week we continue to look at what powers the forces of deflation.

Traders who don't acknowledge the intrinsic nature of luck in trading will never develop the emotional strength to survive its many ups and downs.

The markets rise. The economy sinks. It is not sinking as fast as it was. But it is still going down. Month after month, the number of people without jobs increases.