It has become clearly evident that the Fed works weekends.

Last night the Fed announced an emergency quarter point discount rate cut to 3.25%, and on top of that, offered to lend money to a longer list of firms than ever before.

The rare weekend move came as J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM: chart, web, Y!) sealed a deal to buy Bear Stearns (BSC: chart, web, Y!) for just $2 a share backed by up to $30 billion borrowed from the Fed. The Fed board gave its approval to that unique funding arrangement, which guarantees JP Morgan against …

As expected, Emigrant Direct has followed suit on lowering interest rates for its online American Dream Savings Account to 4.30%.  I can’t say that I didn’t see this coming, but the dropping rates are driving me to start maneuvering money back into the stock market.

I’m starting to rethink my goal of having $50,000 in the account to generate some secure passive income.  While it’s still a good goal to have, the money I have allocated for that account may work harder elsewhere, like in high yield ETF’s.

I’ve already got the mandatory 6 months worth of expenses stored up in savings, and am now strategizing on how to put my money …

On Monday the Fed dropped interest rates by a full 0.75% out of the blue. Unprovoked, unannounced, and unexpected, both in scale and timing. Sure, The Street had predicted a rate cut, but no one was predicting three-quarter basis points, and few were predicting an unscheduled cut.

There is something strange about this move.

Big Ben Bernanke has been fairly slow to react to economic data, and has at most taken a half basis-point chunk out of rates at any one time. So why the big bite all of a sudden?

I suspect that there is more to this interest rate …

Emigrant Direct has preempted any fed rate cut Bernanke could throw at us. Within the last couple of days, Emigrant bank has cut their online savings rate to 4.55%. Still better than I can get at Bank of America, but it’s making online savings accounts look less appetizing when compared to Canadian Royalty Trusts.

Sure, the money is guaranteed at Emigrant, so it’s still a great place to stash emergency funds, but the dropping rate could offset some of the risk in investing in stocks.

Question for the day: At what percentage rate do you quit stashing free cash in the savings account and contribute it to a online …

It’s really no surprise that the Fed dropped rates by another quarter point yesterday. In fact, The Street figured it was a 90% sure thing that it would happen.

So now I can expect my Emigrant Direct savings account rate to drop accordingly, just as companies like Proctor and Gamble are issuing statements that they’re worried about consumer spending in the next few months (and when they indicate publicly they’re worried about it, don’t count on financials being all that great next quarter).

With the second rate cut totaling 0.75% in six weeks, it’s clear the Fed is trying …

Yesterday crude oil settled in above $93 per barrel on production problems in Mexico and a weaker dollar.
Pemex, of Mexico, took 600,000 barrels a day off line due to weather. Most of the problem stems from ports being closed, as they are unable to export any more crude and have run out of storage.

The lost production will likely be made up quickly, but it will certainly draw on U.S. inventory levels in the coming weeks, which should further support prices. Crude is up 10% since Wednesday, when the DOE said in its weekly inventory report that stockpiles fell, contrary to analysts’ expectations for a build.

On Wednesday, the Fed may …