1.The economic downturn is forcing a return to a culture of thrift that many economists say could last well beyond the inevitable recovery.Shift to Saving May Be Downturn’s Lasting Impact

Source: New York Times

Related: China Consumer Spending vs. Savings

2. The market is a cruel mistress indeed. Compounding the pain of big swoons, it kicks investors when they are down by luring them into sucker’s rallies – typically sharp but fleeting bounces in the middle of a bear market.On Wall Street: Beware of the sucker’s rally

3.The largest 25 managers of mutual funds most used by defined contribution plans ended 2008 with assets off by more than a quarter, but the year’s market vortex didn’t drag down all boats equally. Top-performing mutual funds

4.Spanish Solar-Power Subsidy Seduces Florida’s FPL Group, Scorches Consumer Spain has turned itself into the world’s biggest builder of solar-energy plants, attracting developers from the U.S. and France by guaranteeing prices that weigh down Spanish consumers.

5.US banks Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America unveil plans to boost reserves after failing ‘stress tests’.Banks unveil cash-raising plans

1.In a switch from the downturn of 2000, retail investors have actually increased their trading volume, a panel of analysts told participants at the annual meeting of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. in Boston. Finra is based in that city and New York.Retail investors in buying mood despite downturn.

2.With his 401(k) in ruins, our correspondent visits investment gurus, hedge fund managers, and a freakish Arizona survivalist with one question in mind: How can the ordinary investor recover? Why I Fired My Broker

3.Entrepreneur Reid Hoffman describes how he built one of the Web’s leading social networks.The Man Behind LinkedIn

4.Legislation introduced by Rep. Rob Andrews, D-N.J., would dramatically revamp the ground rules for offering investment advice to participants in defined contribution plans.Pension lobbyists wary of investment advice change

5.The tenets of capitalism are being called into question as the banking sector scrambles through unchartered territory.Into the unknown

6. China’s strengthening of its gold reserves still leaves those holdings as a very small fraction of both its total monetary reserves and US holdings of the precious metal. It nevertheless points to a strategic trend that other surplus nations can be expected to follow. The biggest winners will trade their dollars for gold before there’s a rush for the door. China stirs a pot of gold

1.The power of the three big US rating agencies, Moody’s, Fitch and Standard & Poor’s, remains unbroken. By awarding high ratings to junk securities, they fueled financial market excesses. Now they are taking countermeasures by brutally downgrading securities. In doing so, they are making the crisis even worse.The Power of Rating Agencies

2. The U.S. government’s long-awaited “stress-test” results have found that 10 of the 19 largest U.S. banks need a total of about US$75 billion in new capital to withstand losses if the recession worsened.Stress tests find banks need US$75B more

3. Society at a Glance reveals evolving social trends in OECD countries -The French spend more time sleeping than anyone else in OECD countries. They also devote more time to eating than anyone else and nearly double that of Americans, Canadians or Mexicans. The Japanese sleep nearly an hour less every night than the French and also spend longer at work and commuting than they do indulging in leisure activities.

4.GRAEME Wood started hotel site Wotif.com just as the dotcom bubble burst, but that didn’t stop it becoming a success story. Making money while you sleep

5.US policymakers have already braced themselves for a bout of deflation, and many corporations are quaking at the prospect of price declines. Some are wondering, though, how bad can it really get? – FEAR FACTOR

1.As I write this, the Federal Reserve has announced a huge new program to buy various kinds of debt designed to lower interest rates for home mortgages and other loans (such as securitized consumer loans). This action is another major step in the new era of the proactive Fed that puts large amounts of “Fed-created” money into the economy. The Fed money is intended to restart the seriously sick real economy by providing credit not available from the private sector.Will the Fed’s Medicine Work?

2.Despite America’s move to the left under Obama, it’s still assumed that Europe and America are fundamentally different—in their economies, societies and values. But this is a myth.A narrower atlantic

3.Moody’s discusses some of the characteristics of the world’s largest bank.The rise and rise of ICBC

4.Luxury carmaker Porsche agrees to merge with larger German manufacturer Volkswagen in a new car group. Carmakers Porsche and VW to merge 

5.Joseph Schumpeter famously argued that the essence of capitalism was creative destruction, by which new economic structures are born from the rubble of older ones. The government stress tests on the 19 largest US banks, the results of which are due be announced on Thursday, could have facilitated this process. The opportunity looks likely to be missed. -By Matthew Richardson and Nouriel Roubini Insolvent banks should feel market discipline