Last week you already know that stocks were in bad shape, but you may not have realized that the credit markets were even worse. This is important because this bear began with a worsening of credit in mid 2007, and it will end with an improvement in credit at some point.

Chris Rowe discusses the changes coming with the federal bailout plan and what this means for traders.

Unlike Warren Buffett, most investors don't have $5 billion to bailout the U.S. banking system. But they still have a lot at stake that's riding on the economy, the Federal Reserve and this so-called bailout package. Here are 6 tried and true tips that will help you profit AND protect your wealth in these choppy waters of economic uncertainty.

Clearly the market has decided that, at minimum, throwing another trillion dollars at the banking crisis will be inflationary. You can't float that many bonds and flood the world with new paper and not cause inflation. You can argue whether deflationary forces, such as lower asset prices, will thwart the inflation in the long term, by which I mean a few years. But you can't argue that flooding the market with brand-new money won't cause the value of current money to be debased a lot sooner.

Stocks pulled out of a stunning tailspin last week by mounting a ferocious rally in the last two days that actually occurred faster than it might have seemed.

Clusters of extreme declines have historically often brought bring bear markets to a close. Except when they didn't.

Once in a lifetime events are piling up so fast that we are going to need several lifetimes to absorb them. Someday we'll look back at this period with awe, but for now we just need to figure out how to keep our heads low, our emotions in check, our wits sharp and our portfolios guarded.

Overall the tone of next quarter is setting up to be one where companies announce better-than-expected third-quarter numbers but then provide a sour forecast for the fourth quarter as well as for the first half of 2009. That is a recipe for a lot more volatility and not a lot of progress.

We can see misdirection everywhere we look today, as brokerage analysts talk up the strength of big financial firms even while we can clearly see that fund managers at those brokerages are feeding stock into the market on every rally. So it is times like this when we really need to understand how to keep our eye on the ball, and not look where the dealers want us to look.

It became apparent over the past two weeks that the only way to hit the reset button on the global economy is for Western capitalist governments to act like their socialist counterparts and recapitalize their financial systems. Here's how it would work.

Stocks have jostled around lately like rocks at the bottom of a paper bag, always threatening to break down but never quite developing the energy. This week's trading was brought to you by the letter E, for "entropy," which is a measure of disorder with a system.

It's no secret that this is an election year and that markets tend to favor elections. However, these are special times and you have to look at history to get a sense for what may be headed our way this year. I did some digging and have some very interesting results to share with you today.

Stocks have moved up and down violently over the last few months, but for all of their efforts, have gone nowhere. In fact, in the past three months the major indexes have moved a grand total of two points higher! The shorter-term view of the market looks like we're experiencing a bounce, but my advice to you is to stay skeptical.

Korea is one of our most important trading partners, and has in the past been a "canary in the coal mine" in terms of serving as an omen of more fragile economic conditions for the U.S. If the S&P 500 were to similarly lose a third of its value this year, it would be at 1,005. That's a long way down from here, so it's one more reason to continue to be extra cautious.

Stocks may have been quiet all week, but news out of Europe, Asia and the U.S. financial institutions continues to grab investors' attention as we transit toward autumn. Much of this news will likely have a long-term impact on U.S. share prices and is worth a long hard look for anyone trying to make money in this market.

Bear markets can slam your portfolio twice if you're not careful. You already know that a bear market can whack your portfolio on its way down, but did you also know that it can wipe out further gains if you get back into the market too soon?

Every now and then my hometown team, the Seattle Mariners, and the shares of large companies behave similarly. Volume has been light as the market is now acting like the financial equivalent of my beleaguered Seattle Mariners: dazed, morose and almost lifeless. Find out if there's hope for a playoff spot for the Mariners or the market.

Find out what this could mean for the U.S. dollar, oil and your investments.

The major indexes appear on the surface to be tracing out attractive uptrends from their mid-July lows, but there's no reason to start the celebration. The lack of a sharp contraction of selling is worrisome. It's time to prepare for a pullback.