The FT's investment editor John Authers gives his insights on the markets each day on his Short View column. You can post your responses in the forum below.

Oil prices have fallen more than a fifth from their peak of $145. Will they stabilise at their new lows, or is the current fall just a blip in the continuing rise of oil?

How low can the dollar go? It fell to $2 against sterling for the first time since 1992 and is approaching a new record low against the euro. While UK and eurozone interest rates continue higher, the next move for US rates is expected to be lower. With structural imbalances in the US also undermining its currency, how much further is the dollar likely to sink?

New mortgage approvals and turnover in the housing market have collapsed. A loss of confidence in the market for securitising residential mortgages threatens to accentuate the slump in UK house prices. The Council of Mortgage Lenders has made a proposal for reviving the RMBS market the plan but the Bank of England and Treasury have remained silent.

As the crisis continues to grow, many voters are furious with those who run the financial sector.

Is it villain or scapegoat? Take part in our poll and have your say in the forum, below.

US regulators plan to take emergency action to stop abusive short-selling in shares of significant financial institutions such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Lehman Brothers. Naked short-selling is the selling of shares that traders do not own and have not borrowed.

European policymakers on Wednesday clashed over how to protect the EU's financial system from the global credit crisis as France floated the idea of a single rescue fund to deal with bank failures.

Central banks across the world have slashed interest rates as part of coordinated efforts to stabilise global markets. The Bank of England, the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve and Sweden's Riksbank were among those that cut their key rates by 50 basis points.

As markets welcomed various bank rescue and recapitalisation plans, thoughts are again turning to signs of a global downturn.

The Archbishop of York has branded traders who speculate on the falling share prices in the financial sector as "bank robbers", while The Archbishop of Canterbury called for fresh scrutiny and regulation of the financial world.

Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are renouncing their status as investment banks. Is this good for the future of the financial sector?

UK regulators are to ban short-selling of financial stocks, with short-sellers having been blamed for driving down the share price of HBOS, the banking group that is to be rescued through a takeover by Lloyds, its rival.

Opec has surprised the markets by agreeing to abide by the production limit it had set for its members in September 2007. The cartel views the market as oversupplied.

The Federal Reserve has cut interest rates by a further 50 basis points to 3 per cent in an aggressive move to try to keep the US out of recession. Has the Fed done enough? Vote and share your views below.

Stocks tumbled in New York, London and Asia on the eve of Thanksgiving, and 10-year Treasury bonds yields hit two-year lows (story link below). Is the US economy headed for recession or will growth just slow? What will be the knock-on effects around the world? Have other economies really decoupled? Vote or add your comments below.

The Fed's decision to cut interest rates by 75 basis points to 3.5 per cent initially saw Wall Street and London markets rally.

Some stock market observers have argued the recent retreat has been a long time coming. Stock valuations have become overstretched for this stage in the business cycle, with US economic data no longer supportive of equity markets and former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan warning the economy could move into recession later in the year. What do you think has prompted this latest bout of risk aversion?

In a humiliating move for Mervyn King, the Bank of England has said it will allow British banks to borrow from the Bank for three months using mortgages as collateral. Up to now, Mr King has insisted that such action would sow "the seeds of a future financial crisis". Can Mr King survive this extraordinary U-turn or has his position become untenable?

In 2006 Financial Times/StarMine Analyst Awards, many of the smaller research houses have outperformed the big "bulge bracket". Do you think the best ideas come out of the smaller houses?

Carry trading - borrowing in a low interest country such as Japan and investing in one with a high interest rate, such as New Zealand, is a booming practice. Those taking advantage of it range from hedge fund managers to Latvian home-owners. But many fear the world faces a significant financial risk if exchange rates and interest rates change unexpectedly.

Sparkling trades are the cleverest (or luckiest) market bets - such as the negative basis trade between cash bonds and derivatives; the Chandler Brothers' bet in Japan; bets on internet gaming stocks; and trading on the restructuring of Drax; and Kynikos Associates' bet that the online gambling business was about to implode.

Gold has risen 1 per cent in response to the news of North Korea’s nuclear test, but at $578 a troy ounce, the precious metal is still well below its 26 year peak of $730, hit in May. Have bullion’s safe haven credentials become tarnished? Or did it just become too expensive? One reason for its recent fall was a collapse in demand for jewellery fabrication, at what price will this demand return? Another is its strong correlation with the price of oil, which at $60 a barrel is also well below its peak of just under $80, set in August.

Nasdaq has formally launched its long-anticipated £2.7bn hostile bid for the London Stock Exchange, as the US exchange seeks to buy the 71.25 per cent of the exchange that it does not already own. Is the LSE worth it?