Just when all the market pundits were expecting a big relief rally after the passage of the new budget-ceiling package, equities dropped off a cliff, and sent most of the major stock indexes into ‘correction’ mode. It just wasn’t the long drawn out wrangling that went on in Washington over the debt ceiling that caused the drop, but a string …

Given the back-and-forth movements between the Democrats and the Republicans as to solving the pending debt ceiling crises, you can almost say it’s become a ‘two-step’ tango dance, going back and forth. The major problem is that this bickering by our elected lawmakers happens to be going on when the economy is at risk of slipping into another murky recession. …

Investors had plenty of noise to listen to last week with all the concerns over Italy, the European Union bank stress tests, debt ceiling negotiations, QE3 chatter, and a mixture of lethargic economic data. When the dust finally settled, all the domestic equity indexes were substantially lower for the past five trading sessions. The only two broad sectors that managed …

Stocks closed out the holiday-shortened week on a negative note as a result of last Friday’s employment report, but still managed to move higher on the week. The dismal employment report showed that just 18,000 jobs were created last month, which is nothing when you consider that we are a country of 300 million people. That measly figure was far …

It’s certainly been a tumulteous first half of the year in the stock market, with signs of upheaval, unexpected downward surprises, and disappointing returns for investors across the board. Worries about how Greece and several other European nations will handle their debt problems, and recent signs of weakness for our own U.S. economy, have certainly weighed in on our markets …