Talk about a winter of discontent… Over the past seven weeks, we’ve seen quite possibly one of the best examples of stock market fear in history.

There is a full economic calendar this week, but all eyes will be on the two-day FOMC meeting and the rate decision on Wednesday.

It will be interesting to see how the FOMC approaches this meeting. The current Fed Funds target rate is 0-0.25%, which in and of itself is rather strange. It is a moving target, not a fixed rate. Who determines which rate is used? My guess is this meeting will be used to clarify what the rate is. The Fed will either officially reduce it to 0% in a continued effort to resuscitate the economy, or lock it in at 0.25%. This would at least leave the Fed with one perceived bullet in the gun.

The rest of the…

It can be easy to forget that some of the world’s biggest companies started out as penny stocks. Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT), Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) to name a few. Penny Sleuth’s Jim Nelson says penny stocks may carry more risk than blue-chips, but the success stories show the rewards can be worth the extra risk.

Verizon Helped by Wireless Sales; Kraft Produces Profit; Raytheon Teams with NASA; Ryanair Crashes and Burns; Dow Dives 240 points; Oil Rallies on Political Tension; White House Lowers Growth Estimate; Amgen Profit Slides.

Takeda Acquires Millennium for $8.8 Billion; Gas Prices Driven to Another Record High; Jobless Claims Drop; Car Sales in India Up Again; China’s Trade Deficit Narrows; 100,000 Angry Airline Passengers; Favorable Amgen Ruling; BJ’s Wholesale Club Gains on Sales Increase.