(Michael Schwartz) - Lloyd Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, described himself as "doing God's work," in a profile last year in London's Sunday Times. Last Friday, the SEC charged Blankfein's firm with defrauding investors in connection with securities linked to subprime mortgages. Investor reaction was swift as Goldman's stock dropped more than 12% on the day and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 125 points, according to Associated Press.

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(Michael Schwartz) - The U.S. stock market continued grinding its way higher last week as the Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly pierced the 11,000 level for the first time since September 2008, according to The Wall Street Journal. Back then, the Dow was piercing 11,000 on its way down to below 7,000 in March 2009.

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(Lee Siler) - The market ended the day mixed on moderate trade. Considering the major averages rallied two of the three previous days, I would chalk yesterday up as a victory. It's been a while since the Dow Jones gained more than 200 points two of three days...

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(Lee Siler) - Stocks dropped four straight sessions last week to end down around 2% among the major averages. Considering we've rallied for seven consecutive months, this two week pullback may look less ominous than it is. It's ironic that this pullback started just before we start 3rd quarter earnings season.

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(Lee Siler) - Stocks have been struggling all week and barring a great day for the averages, we will be closing down on the week. What's more, the commerce department released the durable goods figures, which were less than economists had expected. Durable goods orders dropped 2.4% in August after increasing a revised 4.8% in July. Wall Street was expecting a gain of 0.5%. Stock futures were pointing to a slightly higher opening, until these numbers were released and are now looking to trade much lower.

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(Lee Siler) - Today the Fed starts their two-day meeting. The speculation is that the Fed will likely leave the Fed Funds Rate near 0% for a while longer. Obviously, inflation will be watched and combated when it starts to rear its ugly head.

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(Lee Siler) - A better than expected earnings report from Alcoa has stocks in Europe moving higher. This move is spilling over to the U.S., as stock futures are indicating a jump in prices. Although Alcoa reported its third consecutive quarterly loss, they did beat estimates by a large margin due to significant cost cutting.

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(Lee Siler) - A dismal jobs report on Thursday sent the market plunging before the 4th of July holiday weekend. The U.S. lost 467,000 jobs in June. That was more than expected and took the overall unemployment rate to 9.5%, the highest since 1983. Stocks dropped more than 2.5% across the board. At the same time the price of crude also tanked by more than 4%. A drop in crude prices should be conducive to an economic recovery, but it may also be a sign that the economy is still not on solid ground.

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(Lee Siler) - Stocks continued their sell-off, as trading volume rises again. There is now some clear distribution going on in the major averages. Over the past two days we've seen the Dow Jones, Nasdaq and S&P 500 drop well over 3%. Even the leading stocks and sectors are starting to rollover.

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(Lee Siler) - Stocks traded lower on the day, but the damage could've been much worse. Investors were concerned about the lack of interest in the U.S. Treasury auction. The government's ability to sell Treasury's is paramount to fund our national spending. These auctions have put pressure on the bonds and hence, have seen yields soar over the past month.

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