The rules tell us that if you spend more than you earn you must get poorer. Suddenly, the average homeowner finds himself dangling at the end of a rope. He sees that he spent too much. He sees that he bought more house than he could afford. He sees that his earnings have actually gone down in real terms, while his cost of living has gone up. In short, he sees that he’s been had.

Dow futures fell 546 points. If they do not retrace materially before the market’s open on Tuesday and the Dow closes the day down by the amount that the futures suggest, the index would see its fourth largest point loss ever.

Tim Bourquin interviews Dick Diamond, who talks about how he trades and which indicators he uses.

Professional system trader Art Collins shares his daily biases in the index, bonds and currency futures markets for January 22.

This week John Mauldin looks at jobless claims, credit default swaps, and continued weakness in the economy.

The fight between the inflation and deflation is beginning to resemble the Corrida de Toros we saw in Madrid . That is to say, it does not look like a battle between equal and opposite opponents. It almost looks like the fix is in.

Although Kathy Lien does not believe that the US dollar has hit a bottom, she would not be surprised to see a bounce in the dollar this coming week.

The BOC will likely follow the US Federal Reserve’s lead and make monetary policy more accommodative, which may spark major volatility in the nation’s bond, FX, and equity markets.

If we are right, that stocks are in a bear market, the wise reader will stop worrying about making money and begin to fret about keeping it. He will wish he had befriended gold when the price was around $300, or $500. He will think twice about taking it in at $900. He will think even a third time on the day after gold goes down $20, as it did yesterday.

The manufacturing index fell to the lowest level in over 6 years. Rate cut expectations are favoring 75bp of easing, and the Federal Reserve is likely to deliver exactly what the market prices in.