(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 Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment preliminary index for February that was reported last week declined slightly from the late January number and it was lower than expected as consumers continued to fret over unemployment. The index is now down 24% from January 2007, according to data from the St. Louis Federal Reserve. Ironically, when consumers are glum, that could be good news for the financial markets.

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(Michael Schwartz) - Volatility in the financial markets has risen noticeably in the past few weeks as investors remain on edge about a multitude of issues. A mixed employment report for January, continued budget deficit issues in Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain, monetary tightening in China, and a growing sense that the worldwide economy might be running on government stimulus fumes instead of stable gas all contributed to worldwide jitters, according to the Associated Press. In the U.S., the S&P 500 index dropped for the fourth week in a row and it is now down 7.3% from its January 15 recovery high, according to data from Yahoo! Finance. Foreign stocks, commodities, and gold are also down for the year as shown in the chart below.

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(Michael Schwartz) - Two steps forward, one step back might be an appropriate description of the financial markets these days.

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