FEDERAL RESERVE

Texas Governor Rick Perry has only been a presidential candidate since Saturday, but the Republican hopeful has already produced some of the most inflammatory rhetoric of the early 2012 campaign.

Here are three reasons to buy gold, even if it means selling some stocks or bonds to get the money for such an investment.

Premarket trading of gold and silver mining companies were mixed Tuesday in a tight range as stock index futures pointed to a lower open and commodities like crude oil and copper were down.

Shares on Wall Street rose with oil prices on Monday as acquisition news and stronger-than-expected economic data in Japan led markets to steadily forge ahead after last week's wild swings.

The risk of a new U.S. recession has risen over the last couple of months, but an outright contraction will most likely be avoided, Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Dennis Lockhart said on Monday.

Gold prices eased for a third session on Monday as stock markets and cyclical assets such as industrial commodities continued to recover from a rout they suffered early last week, diverting investment away from the precious metal.

The continuing sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone and S&P?s downgrade of the U.S. credit rating have increased the safe haven demand for gold and the prices have reached new highs. But investors remain skeptical whether there could be further rally in the price.

Did last week?s wild stock market swings make you concerned that your 401K will soon turn into a ?201K? ? Then it sounds like it?s a good time to get an assessment of the U.S. economy from two respected economists, Paul Krugman and Irwin Kellner.

This week investors should focus on the performance of European sovereign debt markets.

After a week of wild gyrations that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average rise or fall 400 points on four consecutive days, there?s word that a major bank in France with a funny-sounding name may be in trouble. Further, if you think a possible problem at France's Societe Generale won?t affect the value of the U.S. stocks you own, think again.

Surely wearing his boots emblazoned with the words "liberty" and "freedom," Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced he is making a run for the U.S. presidency in 2012. And if the recent polls prove to be a trend, he and his boots have already walked over many of his competitors.

The White House has identified two economists to fill vacant seats on the Federal Reserve's powerful seven-member board, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing unnamed sources.

Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Narayana Kockerlakota on Friday said he dissented from a U.S. central bank decision to keep interest rates low until mid-2013 because he felt more policy easing wasn't needed.

Disappointing economic growth in the first half of 2011 clearly can not be blamed only on one-off factors, one of the central bank's most influential policymakers said on Friday, adding he had cut his expectations for the pace of the recovery.

Rollercoaster financial markets and the worst riots Britain has seen in decades have made it quite a week for a time of year that is usually so dead the newspapers are filled with "silly season" tales of amusing pet antics.

There is one thing that the doomsayers have gotten wrong: They aren?t nearly worried enough.

An anorexic under doctor's orders to put on weight might fret unnecessarily about getting fat one day.

Handing out flyers at the corner of 47th Street and Fifth Avenue in New York City's Diamond District, Mariabi Peenya is having trouble finding passersby eager to sell their gold jewelry for cash.

Gold eases off the session's record highs after the CME Group raised margins on COMEX gold futures, but turmoil in the global financial markets and fears of slower growth buoyed sentiment.

In days past, jawboning from Presidents and central banks was often enough to stem a financial markets selloff. Not anymore.

Mortgage rates have fallen to a nine-month low, sending refinancing applications on the rise.