On Friday the European Union announced a new $157 billion bailout plan for Greece. The scope of the plan went much further than most investors expected. It promised to finance all countries that need bailouts for as long as it takes for them to recover. There’s more.

This week the scales finally tipped. The phones began to ring and each call was roughly the same. “What are the chances the debt ceiling won’t be raised?” “What happens if the politicians can’t make a deal?’ “What will happen to my investments if the worst case scenario happens?”

Up until Friday’s disappointing unemployment numbers, the stock market appeared ready to regain the year’s high all in one week. However, the ugly news that the nation hired a meager 18,000 of our unemployed dashed investor’s hopes that the economy might be gaining strength in the second half.

Well, we’ve made it through another pullback together. It seems clear to me that this week’s stock market action is telling us that the worst is over—for now.

After this week you should have either an upset stomach, stress headache or both. Human beings do not do well in markets that climb up and down by over a percent on a daily basis. Unfortunately, as this market bottoms, we may expect more of the same.

The European Community’s solution to the Greek debt crisis has been an exercise in kicking the can down the road for well over two years. Unfortunately, this Greek Tragedy is now taking on the dimensions of a three ring circus and taking the world’s financial markets along with it.

Sometimes you just need to throw in the towel, take your losses and walk away. This is not one of those times.

The May non-farm payroll jobs report was a disappointment. So much so that investors dumped stocks, convinced that because the country only added 54,000 jobs, the economy is kaput and we all headed for economic Armageddon. Now, doesn’t that sound silly?

Investors are worried. They are worried that the end of QE II will spell disaster. They are worried that European bank woes will spill over onto our shores. They are worried that the economy is stalling and inflation is trending higher. Yet, with all these worries, the markets have held their own over the last [...]

Volume was thin, volatility high, and despite all the excitement over the LinkedIn IPO, the averages finished little changed from the levels of last week. This is a market that requires patience and fortitude.