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US Senator Bernie Sanders, independent from Vermont, is known for his straightforward and unbiased positions.

His new legislative proposal is to break up big banks that are deemed "too big to fail." To quote Mr. Sanders: "if an institution is too big to fail, it is too big to exist. We should break them up so they are no longer in a position to bring down our entire economy."

A few weeks ago the US government slapped import duties on Chinese manufactured tires. China shot back by launching and investigation through the World Trade Organization (WTO) of US car exports to China.

Now we have round two. The US has imposed import duties of up to 99% on $2.6 billion dollars of Chinese pipe imports.

The ruling is temporary, however, US Customs will start collecting cash or bond deposits on imports. A final ruling will be made in March. Meanwhile, President Obama plans his first visit to China within a few weeks.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the bears simply won't hear the positives -- but he'll keep hammering them home.

Lots of things are coming together for housing, but nobody seems to care. We had Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) (Cramer's Take) the other day offer attractive interest-only mortgage loans to those in trouble, a bet that eventually housing will go higher. We had Fannie (NYSE: FNM) (Cramer's Take) allow people in trouble to rent to stay in their homes, and the government is going to extend the tax credit for homebuyers and broaden it. Plus, mortgage rates went under 5% again.

But nobody cared. No one.

U.S. stock futures were higher Friday morning, continuing Thursday's strong performance and nearing two-week highs. All eyes this morning will turn to the government's jobs report. While there have been signs of growth and recovery in the economy, the labor market has been one of the biggest concerns, as the Federal Reserve statement just from Wednesday attests.

[Update 8:33 a.m.: Stock futures changed course after the government reported the unemployment rate rose to 10.2%, above the 9.9% expected. Nonfarm payrolls dropped by 190,000 in October, bringing to total number of jobs lost in the recession to 7.3 million.]

U.S. stock markets surged about 2% on Thursday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average reclaiming the 10,000 mark with a 203 point move. Positive economic news, including sales results from retailers and upbeat outlook from tech giant Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO).

The US dollar is down 20% since 2002 on a trade weighted basis. Other world economies like China are dynamic, with growth rates of 8 and 9%. With that kind of clout, countries like China, India and Brazil, can choose where to place their reserves.

Slowly, developing countries are shifting their reserves away from the dollar into the euro and yen. Neil Mellor, strategist at Bank of New York Mellon Corp (NYSE: BK), which has some $20 trillion dollars in assets under custody said: "I don't think there will be an imminent move, but it is quite clear there's a plan to shift reserves to a more balanced portfolio."

Barclays Capital Research reported that central banks placed 63% of new cash in non US currencies between April and July.

They are the masters of the game. Who are they? They are the traders at Goldman Sachs.

Why is Goldman Sachs Co. (NYSE: GS) the best? Take a look at the record. Goldman traders had one loss in the third quarter. They had a string of 36 $100 million days out of 65 trading days. These figures were down slightly when Goldman had 46 $100 million trades in the second quarter.

Wednesday, the Fed announced that interest rates would remain at zero to 0.25% for at least the next six months.

The Fed statement read as follows: "weak conditions are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period." The only change in the Fed's policy was a tweak in the amount of corporate debt that the Fed intends to buy.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says you can be bearish, but you have to admit when you're wrong.

Oh boy, I hit a nerve. My last two days of donning the bear suit and imitating the bears has brought on a cacophony of critics, all of whom think that I am attacking them personally! That's right, they think I have read them, seen them and heard them and that I am spoofing them or making fun of them.

Moreover, they think that I am wildly bullish and that I am mocking them for not wanting to buy things here.

U.S. stock futures drifted a little lower (later a little higher) Thursday morning following Wednesday's Federal Reserve's statement that it was keeping rates at record low levels. However, earnings from tech giant Cisco accompanied by an upbeat outlook could give a boost to tech. Also this morning, investors will watch as retail chain-stores report October sales.

[Update: Futures now point to a higher open following retail sales data, earnings and lower claims numbers.]

On Wednesday, Wall Street ended mixed and relatively flat after the Federal Reserve decided to keep rates steady. While conceding the economy has picked up, policymakers said this was not enough to hike interest rates, saying an increase will instead depend on when the labor market and inflation pickup. Given that there have been no inflationary pressures and that unemployment is expected to rise, the dollar weakened yesterday and short-term Treasury yields fell. The Fed also cautioned consumer spending would remain strained. Of course, the market would have liked to see a stronger show of confidence.

Following today's market close, technology giant Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) had its chance to impress Wall Street with its fiscal first quarter results, and the company did not disappoint.

Going into this afternoon's earnings report, analysts had been expecting to see the company show earnings of 31 cents per share, but the company surprised to the upside by posting actual earnings of 36 cents per share for its fiscal first quarter. For the same period last year the company had earnings of 42 cents per share.

The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) issued its statement almost exactly as expected. The language on interest rates is remaining low for an extended period of time remained largely unchanged, and the decision was unanimous.

As I have mentioned earlier, the Fed continues to avoid any potential language which could disrupt the financial markets. Any potentially controversial ideas seem to be reserved for speeches by the Chairman and other government officials.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says stocks like WellPoint are buys again because the months of rhetoric will end.

Buy WellPoint (NYSE: WLP) (Cramer's Take). Right now. That's what I thought the moment I saw Chris Christie's shocking triumph in my home state last night. It was a stunning referendum of the anti-jobs nature of health care and how the Democrats are now being tagged with job losses and a health care obsession that hurts hiring.

Not everyone has a seat as safe as Nancy Pelosi. Many have seats thought to be as safe as Corzine's. They have to be shaking today.

U.S. stock futures climbed on Wednesday morning, ahead of the decision by the Federal Reserve on interest-rate and monetary policy. This afternoon, the Fed will give its outlook on the economy and the corresponding policy it's taking. It is widely believed the Fed will not raise rates. Meanwhile, more earnings and economic data are on tap.

Unlike this morning, traders appeared more cautious Tuesday, as the Fed began its two-day policy meeting. Stocks ended mixed and fairly unchanged following news that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B) has decided to buy Burlington Northern Santa Fe (NYSE: BNI) in a deal worth $44 billion and as Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) announced a 6-7% workforce reduction.

Here's a shocker: India's central bank just bought 200 tons of gold.

India paid $6.7 billion to the International Monetary Fund for the gold, securing the equivalent of 8% of the world's annual production. India's move is a clear signal that Asia is moving away from the U.S. dollar.

India's finance minister said the reason for the purchase was that the economies of Europe and the US had "collapsed."

Bloomberg News took a recent poll of its subscribers. Here are some highlights of the survey:

• Only 31% of investors saw investment opportunities in the stock market, down from 35% in the July survey.
• Worldwide, investors see the U.S. as the weakest link in the world economy. Twenty five percent of respondents see an unemployment rate of 11% in the U.S. next year.
• Respondents see China and India as the most promising markets and commodities are the asset of choice.
• Real Estate and bonds are out of favor, with 40% saying that bonds will have the worst returns over the next year.