The above saying is one of the many myths of the markets. It’s called the “January Effect.” Given this month closed with hefty losses, it is just one more sign that the prospects for 2009 are less then encouraging.

Congress passed the Obama $819 billion stimulus package Wednesday night and it actually had some incentives for the economically-challenged lower and middle class. I say it’s about time although we are still some weeks away from a final bill.

Pity the poor fund manager this week. The markets moved up and down like a yo-yo gaining and losing a year’s worth of wealth in minutes. I sense there is a real battle going on right now between the bulls and the bears. Both have a wealth of ammunition and neither side is sparing any [...]

The government’s well- intentioned effort to stave off default for thousands of American homeowners needs a make-over. By any measure the program does not appear to be stemming the rate of foreclosures.

In the same week two of the nation’s largest banks narrowly avoided a meltdown of colossal proportions. As the smoke cleared on Friday, both escaped the worst, however Bank of America cut its dividend to a penny and both it and Citibank reported dismal fourth quarter earnings while continuing to write off mega billions of [...]

When the U.S. government created tax-deferred 401(k) retirement accounts back in 1972 they never dreamed that together with Individual Retirement Accounts, they would become the primary savings vehicle for over 50 million Americans. Nor did anyone care as long as these tax-deferred retirement assets continued to grow but now that over $2.5 trillion of their [...]

I’m not sure which will come first: the 1000 level on the S&P 500 Index or Inauguration Day. Either way, we still have a chance to move higher in the days ahead. Not that I have changed my bearish stance. I have not.

For the most part 2008 was a year of anticipation. The mainstream financial media and market pundits were forecasting a possible economic slowdown, while predicting a pullback in the stock markets and maybe a rough patch for housing and a few financial institutions. As the year went on however those forecasts grew ever gloomier and [...]