Is it just me, or does it seem like there isn’t fear out there? I thought at first that I was just disconnected from what’s happening here in my gorgeous Delray Beach office. Maybe that fact that I’m brewing my own coffee in my own home that isn’t “upside down” on mortgage repayments is skewing my version of reality.

When it comes to the oil markets, volatility is the name of the game. After seeing prices of nearly $150 a barrel last summer, oil prices have dropped to about $45 a barrel. Will prices move higher anytime soon? 

With consumers losing savings, their jobs and their homes, it was only a matter of time before businesses across the country began to feel pain.

Just a few years ago Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE:ADM) was riding high on the back of the agriculture AND ethanol boom. But as soon as the credit crunch struck, both of those bull markets died and ADM’s stock tanked.

The Dow can drop for a ton of reasons – from business conditions deteriorating to the VIX rallying higher – both of which I’ve discussed before.

My favorite CEO to hate was the ex-CEO of Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO), Jerry Yang.

IBM (NYSE:IBM) is one of those companies that just seem to be into everything.

It’s early in the morning in Delray Beach, Florida, and you know what I did?  I made a cup of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee (since I’m boycotting any unnecessary spending on pricey take-out coffees) and took a look at one of my favorite currencies in the universe – the U.S. dollar.

Back in 2006 and 2007 one of my very favorite exchanges was the InterContinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE). I loved it because it was an over-the-counter commodity exchange.  And unless you were hiding under a very large moss-covered rock in the mountains, you knew commodities were hot.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that if business conditions are deteriorating, then the economy must be weakening.