There are questions that you should be asking yourselves. Does the fact that Greece received a bailout save the country from falling off the cliff? Can the euro and dollar both fall at the same time? Is the U.S. government going to raise the debt ceiling? Are consumers struggling? If salaries are not rising and gas and food keep moving upward the consumer will not have the money to spend. Companies are storing cash and not hiring just in case there is another financial crisis. The stock market continues to rise, in my opinion to create a buffer in case the market does crash. This is when we must trade on fundamentals and news as it streams in.

What a wild ride the past 2 days has been! The things that kills me is why Obama would tap into reserves on oil when prices have retreated. Why didn’t he do this when crude was $113 a barrel? Oh, maybe that’s because his 2012 campaign is happening right now and he wants to show consumers he is working for them. What he doesn’t realize is this could drag down stocks and the consumer’s 401k could get beat up. The President needs to fix the debt-ceiling issue and not worry about his campaign!

LONDON, June 22 (Reuters) - China is expected to import up to five million tonnes of corn in 2011, the U.S. Grains Council said on Wednesday. Speaking on the sidelines of the Agriculture Investment Summit, USGC president and CEO Thomas Dorr said China has already purchased around 1.25 million tonnes of corn this year and was expected to meet the bulk of its 2011 import needs from the coming 2011-12 new crop.

Target and other retail workers want to be unionized. I do not blame them but most of them are part time workers without benefits. Full-time workers that have been at the company for 3-5 years or more should have this opportunity. I am not against it but it should be offered to long term employees. This would create a better worker and take better employees from competitors.

A choppy market? I think people who are new to the market expect a one directional type attitude. In times like this new rules, regulations, and political actions can send the market up or down each day. Basically, one must disseminate the news each day. But what about earnings and economic data? Again, each day shows something that has to be disseminated but economic data points to a slower economy. Companies are looking to cut more employees. This shows a weak market and I do not care what anyone says. Consumers are jittery and worried about living month to month and do not want to hear about rich companies saving money or making billions. They want jobs, to stay in their home, and to be able to afford groceries without having to worry if gas will go off the charts.

The market has not changed since 2008, which means when panic selling starts the market could jump off of the cliff. The people that want your money want you to pay fees and keep your money with their firm. Being in a short fund, playing options on the short side, and or holding in cash are smart plays. There are excellent straddles one can do to be safe just in case a sell-off does not happen. Let’s face it! There is a bunch of stuff that has happened that we are still recovering from. There is more to come and the markets are not healed from the last round. Will treasuries be safe? Will the U.S . lose its A rating? Will the housing sector come back? Will jobs be created? It takes 5-7 years after a recession for an economy to bounce back. This means in that time period an economy is vulnerable like a person with a weak immune system. If anything big happens the sickness could be terminal.