Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings, has long advocated fiscal conservatism. In a recent interview for CNBC, he told the U.S. to stop printing money, bite the bullet and go on an austerity program. His ideas are sound but are falling on deaf ears at the Federal Reserve. Rogers said that he would rather have Europe manage our fiscal policy.

We must remember that Fed chairman Ben Bernanke has already pledged and spent $12.8 trillion dollars to bail a handful of bankers. Now he says he will spend more if needed. He is already pumping money into the economy by buying treasuries with the proceeds of expiring securities.

Are you looking for some real action? Then come here, my friend. Come to the $4 trillion dollar a day currency market.

The U.S. dollar, which has recently been rather steady, is sharply lower today. September futures for the dollar are trading at 82.30, down 0.90.

Better data coming out of China and Australia pushed the dollar lower, according to traders. While that may be true, it really doesn't explain why the drop was so sharp.

Let's look behind the scenes a bit. Do you remember the rally off the 2009 lows? It was fueled mainly by a weaker dollar, which, in turn, drove up the prices of commodities and the stock market.

"For the 24th year running that the Economist magazine has published its famed Big Mac Index; this index is a tongue-and-cheek way of measuring the purchasing power parity (PPP) -- that is, the relative overvaluation and undervaluation of the world's currencies," notes Nicholas Vardy.

The editor of The Global Stock Investor explains, "What does the Big Mac now say about the relative value of global currencies?

"According to the theory of purchasing power parity, a dollar should buy the same amount of the same good across all countries. By comparing the cost of Big Macs -- a good that is produced in about 120 countries -- the Big Mac Index calculates the exchange rate (the Big Mac PPP) that would result in hamburgers costing the same in America as they do abroad.

Why buy the Swiss franc? There are many reasons. Here are just a few:

• The Swiss franc is the stand-alone currency of Switzerland. By this we mean that Switzerland is not part of the European Union and does not use the euro as its currency.
• The Swiss franc offers currency exposure to Europe, while not subject to problems of countries like Greece and Spain defaulting on their sovereign debt.

Oil prices have been steadily falling over the past week, but reversed course today and managed to gain $0.89 a barrel to close the day at $72.52.

Today's rise came despite a bearish inventory report that showed oil inventories rose by 4.11 million barrels last week, well above the 300.000 barrels that analysts had been expecting to see.

A new fear gripped the market Friday. Originally, gross domestic product -- the broadest measure of economic activity -- was reported to have grown 2.4% in the second quarter. Now, many are expecting the Department of Commerce will revise this figure down next week. According to a Bloomberg survey, revised GDP will have lost one point to a more anemic 1.4% growth.

The expectation of the lower GDP caused an accelerated rush to buy Treasuries. On the futures market, the 30 year bond was up 15 ticks to 134-26. The Dow Jones Industrial average continued its decline, falling yet another 90 points in early morning trade.

A combination of factors is driving gold prices today. First off, Reuters reported that initial jobless claims unexpectedly rose to 500,000, when analysts expected only 476,000. This took the stock market into a dive with the Dow down almost 100 points.

As of 9:00 am. (EDT) October gold futures rose $12.10 to $1,227.5 per ounce. You are probably asking why such a strong move? The short answer is that gold is viewed as a safe haven investment.

Economies around the world are getting weaker. Japan reported GDP growth of just .1% in the recent quarter. The U.S. economy is also getting weaker, rising only 2.4%.

The weak U.S. economy is putting pressure on the dollar. The September US dollar futures fell .588 to 82.45. ABN AMRO stated in Reuters, "The outlook for the U.S. dollar remains weak as far as the eye can see, with US interest rates likely to remain pinned to the floor well into 2011."

The U.S. dollar could drop below 84 yen, according to Gaitame.com Research Institute. Gaitame uses a technical tool called the Bollinger Band, named after its founder John Bollinger. Bollinger bands predict 95% of a security's movement using moving averages and standard deviations. The bands show the dollar bouncing off the lower band six times in the past four weeks. This suggests a strong downward trend.

Traders are watching the 84.50 yen level. If it is broken, the next stop is the 84.00 yen level. The dollar has not breached the 84.00 level since 1995. If the dollar breaches the 84.00 yen level, the next stop is 83.00.

Thanos Papasavvas, head of currency management at Investec Asset Management is bearish on the U.S. dollar, CNBC reports. He is speculating that the Federal Reserve will change its language to indicate downside risks to the U.S. economy.

He points up the contrast between the eurozone and U.S. economies. European leaders have taken measures to cut their deficits and spending. The U.S., on the other hand, is still spending to stimulate our economy. Papasavvas told CNBC that the "Dollar weakness will be the story of the next few months."

Technically, the US dollar index fell through its 200 day moving average to 80.47. Investors and hedge fund traders, seeing this are moving in to sell dollar contracts. The reason given for the drop was that Ben Bernake said that the economy was slowing after removal of fiscal stimulus.

The price of oil has topped $80 per barrel. Crude for September delivery rose to $80.43, up $1.48. Brent crude rose $1.61 to $78.79. U.S. natural gas shot up over $5 per million British thermal unit (BTU). Oil futures climbed 4.4% in July.

Traders and investors are speculating that China will reverse its policy aimed at slowing growth. Growth in China is at its lowest level in a year. HSBC Holdings and Markit Economics reported that China's purchasing managers index fell to 48.4, from 50.4 in June. The purchasing managers index stood at 51.2 in July.

Shares of biotech giant Amgen, Inc. (AMGN) are trading slightly higher in after hours trading this afternoon after the company delivered better than expected earnings for its second quarter.

Going into this afternoon's earnings report, analysts had been expecting to see Amgen report $1.30 per share, but the company was able to beat out analyst estimates by reporting an actual $1.38 for the quarter.

On the cusp of stress tests for Europe's banks, the continent may have already passed a major stress test -- one for the euro currency, Bloomberg News reported Thursday. A scant two months ago, the dominant concern among institutional investors was not the return on their investment in European government bonds, but the return of their investment.

Institutional investors drove up interest rates for debt-plagued nations Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Ireland, and banker-to-banker distrust increased.