CONSUMER ALERT: Car thieves are now looking through your windshield to get vehicle number off the metal tag placed atop the dashboard on the driver side. They take the number to a dealer for a new key and come back and steal your car. Suggestion: place some tape over the VIN number.

Economy and Markets: ten days ago I stated that the stock market would take off, the dollar would hit 86 [it hit 85 and change], and that gold would tank. It's been a hell of a long time since gold has been a leading indicator, but its fall from $455 in December to $410 right now gave us all a signal that most of us missed. The world somehow figured out that the dollar slide was over and that Greenspan was serious about strengthening the dollar before most. Could gold slide back to $280? Depends on how strong the Bush administration wants the dollar to get and with a few more interest rate hikes in the offing and the continuing tightening of the money supply it looks like par with the Euro may be a long term target.