The debt crisis in the euro zone is three years old. It's still feeding on itself. And euro zone officials are still running behind it.

And now Spain has become the fourth euro zone country to reach out for a bailout (following Greece, Portugal and Ireland)…but don't call it a 'bailout'. It's really just a friendly loan, according to Spain's economy minister: "In no way is this a rescue. It's a loan with very favorable conditions".

Call it what you will, it is really further proof that euro zone officials can't quite catch up to the crisis. Even worse, the $125 billion not-really-a-bailout might end up hurting Spain just as much as it 'helps'. It might hurt because the money isn't really for Spain, it's meant to shore up Spanish banks. But in order to recapitalize the banks, the burden is put on the shoulders of the Spanish government

When Amazon (AMZN) was founded in 1994, the book market was antiquated. But that was the nature of the business. Books take up a lot of space, and even the biggest brick and mortar stores can only hold so many titles. And stores typically relied on walk-in customers to move those titles.

So it was no mistake that Amazon targeted the book market. By cutting out the middle man (the distributor or retailer), Amazon connected readers with publishers. And because a book isn't ordered until it's actually purchased by the consumer, it doesn't have the constraints of stocking physical supply, so it can 'hold' millions of titles.

And then in 2007 Amazon released the Kindle ... and took a 90% stake in the eBook market. Amazon used its discounting power to dominate the market by dropping prices to $9.99 per book. Amazon was perfectly willing to forgo a profit to

As much as General Motors' (GM) earnings report released last week was an earnings report, it was also a banner for President Obama's re-election campaign. After being rescued by the government three years ago, "Government Motors" looks like it has made a turnaround.

In 2009, GM got $19.4 billion in loans, and $30.1 billion in debtor-in-possession financing; and in exchange for that, the U.S. got 60% of the company.

And now, after surviving on government life support, GM posted the highest profit in its 103-year history. The company posted profit of $7.6 billion in 2011…beating its previous record of $6.7 billion in 1997. And the company reclaimed its spot as the world's largest automaker after global sales rose 7.6%.

As good as the headline sounds, there are problems under the surface. And as much as the headline is a great campaign line, reality is brewing under the surface. The company's

At first glance, the news was good in last month's jobs report. It was still good at a second glance. But a longer look shows that there are some persistent problems in the labor market.

At first glance, the jobless rate fell to 8.3%, the lowest rate in almost three years. That means that the jobless rate has fallen .8% in the past six month, the fastest decline since 1984. The economy added 243,000 jobs, and companies hired the most workers in nine months.

At second glance, there was more good news. Every January, the Labor Department updates its estimates of employment data. And this latest revision signals that since hitting the bottom in February 2010, the job market recovery has been better than we thought. Since that time, the economy has added 2.92 million jobs.

While the news was good, we still have to look at the report in

It was Christmas Day, 1989, when the Bank of Japan raised the benchmark interest rate to 4.25%. The move was supposed to prevent an asset bubble and curb inflation. The result: the market crashed, the economy stagnated, and a debt crisis ensued. And in the more than 20 years since then, little has changed.

Japan has struggled through over two decades of weak growth and deflation. And the Nikkei index is still down something like 80% from its peak in 1989.

Nikkei 225 Index 1989 to 2011

Source: finance.yahoo.com

There are parallels that can be drawn between Japan and the U.S. Japan’s problems were the result of a frothy real estate market. And both countries have a threateningly high level of debt, over a decade with a flat stock market, and aging populations.

The similarities naturally lead to the question: are we facing a “Japanization” of the U.S.? Pimco’s Mohamed

It has been one month since Steve Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple (AAPL). And in the past month, the stock is up almost 8%.

50 years ago ... on August 13, 1961, in the cover of night and in the space of five hours, the Berlin wall was built by East Germany’s communist regime. At the outset, the wall was a patchwork of available materials: concrete, bricks, even wood. But by the time the wall fell in 1989, it had become a formidable symbol of the divide between capitalism and communism.

The physical, and symbolic, barrier imposed by the wall weakened Germany. But today Germany has a whole new set of problems. Problems that started when the country bound its hands to the fiscally irresponsible countries of Europe in joining the eurozone. And those problems are rolling to a boil.

Things have been simmering since 2010 with the bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal. And again recently, with the European Central Bank buying Spanish and Italian government bonds (to the tune of $32 billion

It happened to Canada in 1992. The country’s sovereign credit rating was lowered to AA+. And the policy response: a ‘thoughtful’ review that resulted in slashed spending … and brought the country to a budget surplus within three years.

As impressive as that was, it took 10 years to get that AAA rating back.

The U.S. has enjoyed a AAA rating for 70 years. This was the first-ever downgrade of U.S. government debt … but not necessarily the last.

Of course, Washington didn’t applaud the move, and the president wasted no time reproving the decision: “We’ve always been and always will be a AAA country”.

But the downgrade itself isn’t what matters here (it wasn’t a surprise, after all). What matters is the reasoning behind it, and the market's reaction to it.

This is not about economics … it’s about politics. Our sovereign debt wasn’t downgraded

The question: is it time to enter the gold market? The answer: hold on. I absolutely like gold long-term, but it’s looking a bit frothy right now, so I wouldn’t add to a position today. Gold hit a new high, and ended last week up 1.3% ... its fifth consecutive weekly gain. And what’s more: the metal is headed for its 11th annual gain – which would mean the longest winning streak since 1920.

Gold funds have been inflow leaders. Last week, SPDR Gold Trust Shares (GLD) led with inflows of 13,700,000 shares, a 3.3% increase. That’s after the fund led the previous week, with $1.1 billion in inflows. It’s not only individual investors piling into the gold market, last week the central bank of South Korea confirmed its first purchase of gold since the Asian financial crisis of 1997

Exxon Mobil (XOM) started the month of July with a pipeline leak into the Yellowstone River, and ended the month with a disappointing earnings report.

On the upside, net income rose 41% in the second quarter, and revenue rose 36%. And the report marked the best second quarter earnings since 2008.

But on the downside, profit missed estimates (and non-U.S. refining earnings fell -20%).

And the market reacted. Shares ended the week down -6.4%.

The reality: the sell-off was overdone. But I’m not looking at that as a possible buying opportunity.

(Click to enlarge) Source: stockcharts.com

Generally speaking, I’m not a fan of big, integrated oil companies (and Exxon

“Expectations were getting to high”, according to Longbow Research.

Beyond Caterpillar’s (CAT) profits jumping 44%, revenue increased 37%. Sales in North America rose 30%. And the company increased its full-time workforce by 11%.

But that didn’t stop shares from falling on the news. Shares slid 6% ... the biggest decline since April 7, 2009, according to Bloomberg.

And the reason for the sell-off: “The first quarter was just incredibly strong. Caterpillar executed very, very well. The second quarter was a bit more normalized”, according to Morningstar.

Obviously, the market wasn’t looking for normalized … but it looks like last week’s sell-off was a little overdone.

The bottom line: last week’s earnings report marks the first time in 10 quarters that the company’s profit was lower than expectations. The stock was a little too beaten up on the news (and even after that beating it is still the largest gainer

“Obviously, the solid performance in our underlying businesses continues to be clouded by the costs we are absorbing from our legacy mortgage issues”, according to Bank of America (BAC) CEO Brian Moynihan, speaking about last week’s earnings report.

And those costs are casting a cloud over the S&P: Bank of America cut the S&P 500’s earnings by a third, according to Friday’s headline from MarketWatch. Specifically, the $9 billion loss the bank took as the result of a mortgage settlement during the second quarter brought the S&P 500’s growth down to 9.2% for the quarter (down from 15.2% reported by Reuters).

Even worse: without Bank of America, financials saw a 4.9% gain for the quarter … but B of A brought that down to a -29.4% loss.

And those mortgage-related losses (larger than any other major U.S. bank) easily overshadow any positives from last week's report (and without the posted

Has the high-yield sell-off created an entry point? Quite possibly. While the spread between high-yield debt and Treasury securities is below its historic norm, it has widened as of late. And one could argue that fundamentals warrant moving into high-yield bonds (balance sheets are healthy and margins

Best Buy (BBY), the world’s largest consumer electronics retailer, managed to beat expectations in last week’s earnings report. This means that the bottom line numbers didn’t fall as much as anticipated. And then shares saw their highest climb in 15 months (and ended the week up 9%). So is it time to buy?

Short answer: No. Slightly longer answer: The company is “a broken story. Not as bad as expected is about the best thing I can say about Best Buy”, according to CNBC’s Guy Adami.

‘Not as bad’ is pretty accurate: Net income dropped 12%, less than the projected decline. And while

"Control + Alt + Delete." That's what one downgrade report had to say about Research In Motion's (RIMM) earnings report.

RIM shares plummeted in a dashed sell-off (to its lowest level since 2006) following a report that was "beyond disappointing" and guidance for the upcoming quarter that was worse, according to CNBC.

Revenue fell -12% from the previous quarter and now the company is facing "a lower than expected outlook" for the next quarter…with revenue, profits and gross margins all declining, according to co-CEO Jim Balsillie.

But that's nothing new. RIM has been struggling