The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank below 10,000 Monday, closing at 9,908.39. So what? In market analysis, round numbers like 10,000 often trigger a change in market sentiment.

For example, when the Dow first pushed through 10,000 on the upside in 1999, investors and traders took this as a sign of strength. Conversely, when it crashed through 10,000 on its way down to 6,400, panic gripped Wall Street. Then, in 2009, we had a bounce back through 10,000 on the upside in November. Again, investors and traders saw this as a sign of strength.

Looking back just a few weeks, the markets ushered in the new year with euphoria. Within a few short weeks, things have turned sour. The Dow dropped below the 10,000 mark last week. S&P 500 is down 7.3% from its 15-month closing peak.

Now the question facing investors and traders is whether the market is in a corrective phase. Eric Kuby of NorthStar Investment Management Group thinks so. "I'm in the camp that believes that we are in a correction," he said.

This morning the big news of the day was the drubbing of European stock markets as fear spread throughout the region. Fear was generated by concern that some European countries could default on their sovereign debt. Among them are Greece, Spain, and Portugal.

Greece's budget gap is 12.7% of GDP Greece has to slash spending and may need IMF assistance.

Investors sold investment deemed risky such as commodities, gold and stocks and moved their money into bonds. This started a selling frenzy in commodities with oil falling $3.14 per barrel to $73.14 per barrel. Brent crude fell $3.79 per barrel to $72.13 per barrel.

U.S. stock futures moved firmly higher Monday morning, pointing to a rebound after a sharp three-day selloff last week. This morning, it seems, bargain hunters moved. Meanwhile, as earnings season kicks into high gear, investors also await housing data due out after the market open.

U.S. stocks skidded on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average pulling back 2.1%. For the week, the Dow lost 4.1% -- the worst week on a percentage basis since March. Fears that the White House plan to curb bank risk-taking would cut profits helped sour sentiment, as did several earnings report that didn't live up to expectations. The situation in China, with its bank tightening policy, didn't help either.

U.S. stock futures declined advanced slightly Thursday morning (after declining earlier), but remained relatively flat as Wall Street expressed caution ahead of Intel's earnings report and after pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a 15-month high. The Federal Reserve's Beige Book helped boost sentiment Wednesday as it painted a more positive assessment of the U.S economic recovery.

Making headlines this morning, ahead of several economic reports, is news about the record 2.8 million foreclosures last year. More disturbing, that number is expected to rise this year as more unemployed and cash-strapped homeowners fall behind on their mortgages. The number of foreclosures in 2009 rose 21% from 2008, RealtyTrac Inc. reported Thursday. In December, more than 349,000 households were hit with a foreclosure-related notice, a 14% spike from November and a 15% jump from December 2008.

The DJIA has not moved much since mid-month and today was no exception with all three major indexes close to flat.

The Conference Board said that its Consumer Confidence Index rose to 52.9 for December, up from up from 50.6 in November. Both numbers are extremely low compared to a reading of closer to 90 in an expanding economy. The S&P/Case-Shiller index of home price rose a tiny .4% from September to October, but the most recent figure for the housing market was still down 7.3% from last year. Housing prices may be about to find a bottom, but, if so, the case for it is still shaky.

The unofficial closing bell numbers:

Dow 10,545.41 -1.67 (-0.02%)
S&P 500 1,126.19 -1.59 (-0.14%)
Nasdaq 2,288.40 -2.68 (-0.12%)

Dow member Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) is expanding its voluntary recall of Tylenol Arthritis Pain Caplets, due to consumer reports of an unusual moldy odor emanating from the pill bottles. J&J previously recalled five lots of the over-the-counter painkiller, but the recall has now been expanded to all product lots of the Arthritis Pain Caplet 100-count bottles with the red EZ-Open cap.

The musty odor, according to Johnson & Johnson, can be traced back to a chemical known as 2,4,6-tribromoanisole, which results from the breakdown of a different chemical in wooden pallets used in transporting and storage. J&J will resume production of the 100-count Arthritis Pain Caplets in January, after relocating production to a new facility.

The market should have focused on the downward revision of Q3 GDP to 2.2%. When the benefits of "cash for clunkers" is taken out, the economy barely grew at all.

Stocks ended up being driven by good housing sales figures which were up 7.4% for November and equities were up for a third consecutive day. The market's movement between now and the end of the year will probably be driven by retail sales numbers, but there were few of those today.

The unofficial closing numbers:

Dow 10,464.93 +50.79 (0.49%)
S&P 500 1,118.02 +3.97 (0.36%)
Nasdaq 2,252.67 +15.01 (0.67%)

The markets were slightly up most of the day, but traders seemed to be unsurprised by big news from Dubai and Citi. Many of the "most actives" only moved up or down a percentage point or two. It was not a day in which the market showed any conviction which was surprising given the number of potential catalysts early in the day.

The numbers:

Dow 10,501.43 +29.93 (0.29%)
S&P 500 1,114.10 +7.69 (0.70%)
Nasdaq 2,212.10 +21.79 (0.99%)

After reading an unbelievable sell recommendation by one of my BloggingStocks colleagues, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. In Thirteen Dow stocks that are doomed, we are informed that 13 of the 30 are going down and we should all bail out before it is too late.

I find this silly on many levels. For one, 13 stocks amount to a large-cap index fund and since large-cap stocks have lagged the market the probability that they will outperform going forward is real and has many investors promoting them.

Investors are familiar with the concept of a "Santa Claus" rally. In his Next Inning newsletter, however, Paul McWiliams looks at a less well-known seasonal pattern involving the Chinese New Year.

"With the growth of Asian consumerism we've seen a progressive shift in holiday shopping patterns.

"While the Christmas holiday shopping season still dominates these seasonal patterns, the Chinese New Year has significantly grown in importance during the last decade.

The US dollar index hit a one-month high against a basket of currencies. Investors are betting that improved labor markets will force the Fed to raise rates.

The US dollar index climbed to 76.183, the highest since November 4. The euro traded at $1.4788, down from Friday's $1.4846. The dollar was at 90.07 yen, from 90.51 yen. The UK pound was at $1.6347, from $1.6449. The dollar was at 1.0219 Swiss Francs, from 1.01.70.

Good news on the economy is viewed as putting a damper on ultra low interest rates. The market will be looking to the Fed for clarity on whether November's job report will prompt a hike in rates.

"Is a stock market correction imminent?" asks market historian, timer and money manager Jim Stack.

In his Investech Market Analyst, he answers, "Yes. But, actually, one could answer that question the same way at almost any stage of every bull market in history. Corrections are always imminent in bull markets, with the only question being how severe the next correction will be."

Here, he looks at the market's history to help forecast both the likelihood of an upcoming correction as well as the historical evidence for a "Santa Claus rally."

A report in The New York Post suggests that Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase (JPM), could be the logical replacement for current U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. The paper's sources indicate that "a number of policy makers have begun mentioning Dimon as a successor to Geithner, whose standing in Washington has suffered because of the country's high unemployment rate, the weakness of the dollar, the slow pace of the recovery and the government's mounting deficit."

Meanwhile, reports the Post, Dimon has emerged as one of the heroes of the financial crisis, "having navigated JPMorgan through the recession and being a go-to guy when Uncle Sam last year needed Wall Street's help during the collapses of Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual."

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet jolted the markets Friday with the announcement that the ECB will gradually withdraw the emergency cash injections it has added to the financial system, in order to prevent an acceleration in inflation.

"Not all our liquidity measures will be needed to the same extent as in the past," Trichet said at a conference in Frankfurt Friday, Bloomberg News reported. "Any non-standard measure whose continuation would pose a threat to the achievement of price stability must be undone promptly and unequivocally."