This is bizarre at best but its true. In Latvia there lives a man named Viktor Mirosiichenko who heads a company called Kontora Loan Company. Who is this man and what is so unusual about him? He will make a loan to you if you sign an "agreement" and pledge "your immortal soul" as collateral.

The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) issued its unanimous decision. The language on interest rates and quantitative easing remained unchanged. It indicated that inflation is not a problem despite a recent rise in oil prices and sees economic stabilization although continued weakness.

This decision was designed to avoid potential landmines which could disrupt the financial markets. In other words, the FOMC wanted this statement to be a non-event and seems to have largely succeeded.

We should note that there are two kinds of popular pension plans. First we have the "defined benefit" (DB) plan where the benefit on retirement is determined by a set formula, rather than depending on investment returns. The second type is the "defined contribution" plan. Here contributions are paid into an individual account by each member. This money is then invested in stocks, bonds, etc. Monies can be contributed by both employers and employees. This type of plan is more vulnerable because it is subject the the ups and downs of the market.

Some countries like Russia and China can draw on their foreign exchange reserves. Countries which do not have reserves will have to rely on private capital. The world Bank estimates that developing countries will be short up to $635 billion dollars.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Chrysler's sale to Fiat can proceed. Over the past week we thought that Chrysler's bankruptcy was almost over. But then a group of Indiana pension funds filed suit with the court to delay the sale.

At issue was $42 million of $6.9 billion of secured debt. The pension funds held that Chrysler's offer of 29 cents on the dollar violated their creditor rights.

A United Auto Workers union health care trust, a more junior unsecured debtor, would receive 55% equity stake. This deal was much more favorable than the offer to the Indiana pension funds.

At first we thought that it was rather unusual that the US Treasury Secretary, Geithner, would make a special trip to China. What were the reasons for his trip? The purpose of the mission became clear when Geithner announced that the dollar would remain as the world reserve currency. There had been a lot of scuttle but about replacing the dollar as the world reserve currency, but some of this has been put to rest with the support of Chinese backing.

As usual the Chinese remarks were guarded and a bit fuzzy. Guo Shuging, Chairman of China Construction Bank and former head of the country's foreign exchange administrator said: "In the short term, I don't think we can find another currency to replace the US dollar." He also said, "the US dollar is the main currency because their economy is number one in terms of competitiveness, in terms of innovation."

There are all kinds of mixed signals coming in on the housing market. The good news is that home resales rose 2.9% in April to an annual rate of 4.68 million units. The Federal Open Market Committee said that the market "might be approaching a trough." The bad news is that housing inventory keeps rising. Last month it was rose by 8.8% with 3.97 million existing homes for sale, amounting to a 10.2 months supply.