Looking into 2010...

Few people now talk about a second Great Depression... In fact, the recession is technically over. Just seven months ago, in May, some officials still feared the US banking system might end up largely nationalized if the stress tests and other policy actions did not restore market confidence. Fortunately, the plan worked, or at least something did. The financial system was battered, but it survived. Looking forward: gradual but unexciting recovery.

China?

Significant long-term concerns about overcapacity, local government financing platforms heavily leveraged, so problems will arise when lending slows down and liquidity dries up, 2011 could be very dangerous given new capacity buildup... Could this smell horribly like the Middle East after the 70's oil shock? Build all that capacity and oil heads to $10 / barrel? A lot riding on China's ability to keep utilizing any capacity build , and doing so in pretty short time frames.

Hypo Group Alpe Adria nationalized by Austrian government...

Hope the Austrian government knows what it is getting itself into... Hypo was basically treated as a cash machine by the late lamented Joerg Haider, premier of the southern Austrian state of Carinthia, to finance his populist policies. A buddy of his was a previous CEO and got involved in some dodgy lending to Balkan countries, in particular Croatia (e.g. lease deals on yachts that subsequently 'disappeared'). So it looks like fairly large-scale fraud. Austrian government nationalized Hypo without due diligence to avoid systemic risks, and when they look at the books going into 2010 some quite nasty stuff is likely to come to light...