NEW YORK - December 21, 2010 - A new disaster is looming, according to a prominent market research analyst.

Meredith Whitney, a financial analyst who runs her own consulting firm and correctly predicted the major debt fallout of Citigroup, warned in a little-reported on interview Sunday that as many as 100 U.S. cities face default on their municipal bonds.

TORONTO, Ontario, Canada - December 20, 2010 - Call it the $6.5 trillion headache. That’s the total value of corporate bond issues maturing in 2011 and 2012 globally.

This massive rollover will intensify the competition for capital at the same time as global sovereign issuance surges and private lending sees a gradual recovery, according to Scotia Capital economists Derek Holt and Gorica Djeric.

SYDNEY, Australia - December 20, 2010 - Gold mining companies expect the current gold rush to continue as gold prices are forecast to continue rising in 2011.

The positive run on gold is expected to continue because of the financial concerns about the state of the global economy, PriceWaterhouseCoopers said in a survey published today.

WASHINGTON - December 17, 2010 - Amerika's military and economic empire could collapse at any time, but predicting the precise day, week or month of its potential demise is unattainable, according to a former New York Times war correspondent who spoke with Raw Story.

SAN FRANCISCO, Kalifornia - December 16, 2010 - For the first time since 2008, inflation is hitting consumers in the stomach.

NEW YORK - December 16, 2010 - After seeing Ireland and Greece forced to take bail-outs to stave off a sovereign debt crisis, and with Spain and Portugal still under scrutiny, the U.S. could be the next on the list, the bank cautioned.

David Woo, head of global rates and currencies research, said that successful Republican pressure to restore tax cuts for high earners means there will be no fiscal tightening in the United Sates.

NEW YORK - December 16, 2010 - JPMorgan Chase has been toppled as the biggest US bank by stock market value by Wells Fargo.

Wells Fargo’s market capitalization rose to $157.6 billion at Thursday's close of New York trading, surpassing JPMorgan Chase’s $156.4 billion.