More of the economic realities are starting to reach back into the market and into the populations. In the United States, the consumer confidence actually dropped unexpectedly. People are starting to think that the fun up in the market was based on no substance. People are worried about their job and their financial stability with the fact that this might drag on for much longer than the media is trying to portray.

The market is a hard beast to follow and sometimes a hard thing to understand, but you have to make way with news like this. It seems like the worse the news get, the more people that dump money into the US dollar. I’m not really sure what the deal is with that and all the monetary stimulus that is occurring, but it is happening.

Personally, I prefer to follow the price of Gold to determine how the market is doing. I think as long as it is above $900/ounce, you’re in rough territory for the economy. It did drop below $9000 during the run up in stocks, but since that has stalled gold has gone back up.

I expect the market to stall right here. My prediction is that the Dow Jones will hang between the 8000-9000 range. It will probably hang on the lower side. I’m not sure if it will go back down below 8000. If it does, than expect it to fall further. People like to depend on such a psychological number like 8000. If it continues to stall or drop than put your money in the US dollar because it seems to be the mover.