Montreal, Canada

Bank are under pressure across Europe again as interbank lending rates continue to rise, credit default swaps surge to protect against sovereign and bank default as Europe's largest banks resume cash hoarding.

Earlier this spring U.S. dollar LIBOR rates rallied to 0.54% from barely 0.30% several weeks earlier as overnight lending grew cautious prior to the EU-IMF announcement to bail out Greece.

Montreal, Canada

U.S. non-financial companies are sitting on almost $1 trillion dollars of cash in 2010 and continue to hoard liquidity at the fastest clip since records began in 1952. According to The Financial Times, U.S. non-financial companies boosted cash by 26% over the last 12 months through March – a record.

Unless big companies start spending, the ongoing recovery since March 2009 looks vulnerable because traditional sources of stimulus are exhausted in mid-2010.

Montreal, Canada

I've been bullish on gold and the mining stocks since 2002. Personally, I hold far more physical gold than mining stocks because when push comes to shove, I like the metal more and believe it provides far superior financial insurance benefits than a gold mining company. On a risk-adjusted and total return basis since 1996, gold has severely outpaced mining companies.

Jerusalem, Israel

If you're bearish on the stock market like me then it's always hard to sit on the sidelines or remain under-weighted in equities when the market surges. That's the case now following Thursday's big rally in world markets. But you have to stick to your guns if you truly believe we're in a dangerous environment.

Jerusalem, Israel

From a post-2008 high of more than $320, lumber prices as measured by the EOD Index are now in a free fall. Spot lumber prices have now declined a cumulative 36% since peaking in April – technically defined as a deep bear market (see chart below).

Tel Aviv, Israel

A rarely tracked commodity benchmark has been in a free fall since May.

Tel Aviv, Israel

This marks my first visit to Israel. I learned Hebrew at elementary school and, admittedly, spent most of those lessons sitting in the principal's office -- definitely not your model student until I was accepted to McGill University in 1986. To this day, my parents are shocked that I even made it to university, let alone graduated. But I can still read Hebrew and flying into Tel Aviv on Sunday was certainly an experience for this traveler.

- Dugald Malcolm

Montreal, Quebec

Montreal, Canada

Copper prices appear to be forming a double-top. That spells bad news for the commodities complex and the prospects for a continued economic recovery into the second half of 2010.

Both technical and fundamental scenarios are increasingly bearish for this highly cyclical industrial metal whereby China consumes almost 40% of its annual output.

Montreal, Canada

There's another big rally ahead for Treasury bonds this year as markets dislocate once again amid growing debt fears in Europe and how this will impact U.S. bank balance sheets. I think before this deflation scare is truly over, we'll see benchmark Treasury yields surpass the lows achieved in December 2008.