The risk of a Lehman-like banking crisis for Europe is essentially off the table now.

So much risk -- yet nothing happened. Sadly, the key risks of 2011 are still in place for 2012.

This supposedly big upside surprise in jobs was neither big nor surprising.

Altruism or desperation? French banks just listed 8,067 new instruments with the ECB.

Gold should rally as the market realizes the ECB has embarked on major QE.

The ECB has done enough for the moment -- and maybe enough for the banks.

Europe's downgrade was an already discounted non-event -- but all the old issues remain.

Stocks rise as earnings disappoint, while investors rethink how risky the world really isn't.

Today's real news: the Fed implicitly confesses it will not pay attention to inflation anymore.

Four years after the last business cycle peak, real output has grown less than 1%.