While there are those who are breathing easier, with stock markets around the world on the rise today.. But their relief may well be short lived..
Asia-Pacific stock markets opened strongly in this mornings trading, after stocks in the U.S. and Europe closed higher last week following a volatile few days..
Japan's Nikkei 225 index climbed 145.86 points, or 1.63 percent, to 9,109.58 in early morning trading..
In Australia, the country's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 rose 58.3 points, or 1.4 percent, to 4,230.9..
New Zealand's benchmark NZX50 index was up 24.4 points, or 0.76 percent, to 3240.9..
However.. Traders in the past have complained about the lack of price movement in the summer, as it means that there are fewer decent price swings to trade, therefore fewer opportunities.. This had started to change over the past few years…but should not be heard often after last week’s action..
There were so many factors that buffeted the market.. in addition to the downgrade by S&P and the FOMC announcement.. that it was tough even for seasoned professionals to keep up..
The most dramatic swing was in reaction to the Fed’s announcements. Futures rallied initially on the prospects of lower rates until 2013, but then plunged below 1,100 when they realized the Fed’s pessimistic view of the economy. Of course, futures quickly recovered, and closed the day sharply higher..
The stock market’s sharp drop over the past few weeks seems due to the opinion of many that that the U.S. economy will get even weaker, and that another recession is now more likely..
If this view is correct, stocks are likely to decline below last week’s lows by a significant amount. If not, it is remotely possible that the worst of the selling may be over..
Of course there is a myriad of factors which could affect any optimistic stance..
Keep a close eye on the Eurozone.. and any indication the American 'recovery' is faltering..
This week will see a number of statistics released which could again send a breeze through this economic house of cards..
Later today we'll see the Empire State Manufacturing Survey and Housing Market Index..
Tuesday brings Housing Starts and Industrial Production..
Wednesday brings the all-important Producer Price Index..
Thursday brings the Consumer Price Index.. Jobless Claims.. and the Philadelphia Fed Survey..
The verdict on the stock market is still out, and the market is likely to take a rest this week unless the news from the Eurozone debt crisis gets worse. Since meetings are scheduled next week, and several countries have now prohibited naked short selling, this is somewhat less likely..
Clearly we have a very split market.. as those averages that have a large percentage of financial stocks.. the likes of the S&P 500.. look the weakest, while those with very few.. such as the Nasdaq-100.. look the best..
By many measures, the market is as oversold as it was in October 2008… and even though stocks still went lower, many sectors bottomed at the end of that year..

Barack launches a political counteroffensive this week.. weighed down by a stunted economy.. wilting support among some of his most ardent backers.. and a daily bashing from the slew of Republicans campaigning for his job..
"We've still got a long way to go to get to where we need to be. We didn't get into this mess overnight, and it's going to take time to get out of it," the President told the country over the weekend, all but pleading for people to stick with him..
A deeply unsettled political landscape.. with voters in a fiercely anti-incumbent mood.. is framing the 2012 presidential race 15 months before Americans decide whether to give Obama a second term or hand power to the Republicans..
Trying to ride out what seems to be an unrelenting storm of economic anxiety, people in the United States increasingly are voicing disgust with most all of the men and women, Obama included, they sent to Washington to govern them..
And no wonder.. after the dog-and-pony show played out in both Houses as they wrangled this last borrowing extention..
With his approval numbers sliding.. the Democratic President will try to ease their worries and sustain his resurrected fighting spirit when he sets off later today on a bus tour of Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois.. The trip is timed to dilute the GOP buzz emanating from the Midwest after Republicans gathered in Iowa over the weekend for a first test of the party's White House candidates.. The state holds the nation's first nominating test in the long road toward choosing Obama's opponent..
"You have just sent a message that Barack Obama will be a one-term president," Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann told elated supporters minutes after winning Saturday's Iowa straw poll.. essentially a fundraising event that also tests a candidate's organizational and financial strength.. She spent heavily and traveled throughout the state where she was born.. casting herself as the evangelical Christian voice of the deeply conservative small-government, low-tax Tea Party wing of the GOP..
While the voting was under way in Ames, Iowa, Republicans also had to keep an eye on South Carolina, where Texas Governor Rick Perry made a cleverly timed entrance into the race..
Like Bachmann and all the other candidates.. Perry ravaged Obama..
He said the president was presiding over an "economic disaster," in a declaration that stole some of Bachmann's political thunder and undercut the front-runner status of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.. who didn't compete in the Iowa test vote..
Perry clearly cast a broad shadow across the Republican contest.. A man to keep an eye on..