The U.S. economy is still far from normal. When houses go down, so does the rest of the consumer economy.

Commentary by Federal Reserve officials has been focused on strong price pressures in the US economy. While FOMC Chairman Bernanke did note that the financial markets have yet to truly normalize, his recent speech on the Fed’s liquidity provisions suggests that this will continue to be the method of dealing with the credit crunch, rather than outright cuts to the target Fed Funds rate.

Professional system trader Art Collins shares his daily biases in the index, bonds and currency futures markets for May 14.

House prices are going down.  They'll take the American consumer down with them.  The crises may be over, but the long, slow, slump is still ahead.

It's a good strategy to assess past and current sector performance in order to gain an advantage for future trades.

Professional system trader Art Collins shares his daily biases in the index, bonds and currency futures markets for May 13.

China will soon have the most powerful economy, but what problems are on the horizon?

Advance Retail Sales are expected to fall back 0.2 percent after showing a surprising 0.2 percent gain during the month prior, but given the current economic scenario, this figure could prove to be even more disappointing when announced Wednesday.

A big part of successful investing is simply avoiding the mistakes that the large majority of investors make.  You can have all the techniques, trading tips, fund recommendations, forecasts, but you must still keep away from the patterns that are typical of failed investors.

Professional system trader Art Collins shares his daily biases in the index, bonds and currency futures markets for May 12.