After weeks of speculation - Apple! Amazon! Nike! Toyota! -- all became clear today when General Motors Corporation's (NYSE: GM) exodus from the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) made room for... Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO). While perhaps not as sexy a name as, say, Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), it does add one more tech name to the venerable 30-stock average.

Wall Street Journal Managing Editor Robert Thomson released a statement noting that CSCO made the cut "because its communications and computer-networking products are vital to an economy and culture still adapting to the Information Age -- just as automobiles were essential to America in the 20th Century." So there's the connection!

What is happening in the oil patch? Oil had its strongest monthly gain in 10 years following OPEC's upbeat assessment of demand.

On the NYMEX, July West Texas Intermediate hit a seven month high of $66.47 per barrel. US crude has risen 29% in May, the best monthly gain since 1999. On the ICE exchange Brent crude rose 78 cents to $64.15 per barrel, up 7.2% for the week.

The Dow is set to end another week with a close above 8,000. In fact, the U.S. stock market is at a crossroad of sorts.

Right now, Dow 8,000 is not an issue: 5 consecutive weekly closes and roughly 400 points above 8,000 suggest that battle has been won by bulls.

Still, the bears will argue that the Dow is not that far above the psychologically-important 8,000 level and that this market is more than capable of wiping out that cushion in two sessions. Further, the bears also argue that while the Dow has closed above 8,000 for about a month, it hasn't been able to both make and sustain new highs above 8,600, then 8,800 and 9,000 etc.

This post was written by Minyanville contributor James Kostohryz.

As per the trade I laid out yesterday, with today's durable goods orders number that was significantly better than expected, we might be looking at S&P 930 today rather than sub 900 if the market had not gotten blindsided by yesterday's sudden plunge in long bonds. That's what stops are for.

But let's put this in perspective: A 12-point drop between yesterday's high of around 913 and the current level of 901 is small potatoes relative to what is at stake here.

Econoblog Financial Armageddon has a great post on titanium and what the price of this prized commodity means for the general economy. In a nutshell, titanium is a critical component of paint, particularly the base color white. Titanium is used in all manner of paints for houses and buildings, cars, home appliances, and consumer electronics. So this number impacts a wide swath of the industry from homebuilder like Toll Bros. (NYSE: TOL) to car companies like Ford (NYSE: F) to appliance makers like General Electric (NYSE: GE) to retailers like BestBuy (NYSE: BBY). From an AP article on titanium dioxide trends:

Wow! Did you know that the the Nasdaq has moved up to or beyond its 200-day moving average? If there's one number that turns traders on it is the 200-day moving average. It creates a new confidence that all is well and it's safe to jump back into the stock market.

We've had two months of steady gains, and now investors who didn't have the courage of buy at the low are in panic mode. They want on board. They want a piece of the action. This is causing more sustained buying. We are just about finishing the mess of bank "stress tests" and this is adding a sigh of relief for the banking sector.

For the green shoots believers, a dose of reality: The Journal of Commerce reports that the Cass Freight Systems Index (Cass is a company that tracks freight spending) fell by a whopping 25% in April 2009 (hat tip to ZH).

This comes on the heels of a strong run-up in transports. The IYT Index that tracks this segment dipped below $40 in early March. At close of day on Tuesday it logged $59.54. Freight shipments and freight spending are the lifeblood of the U.S. economy and a key leading indicator for economic activity as both retailers use them to replenish inventories and durable goods.

Have you talked to your friends about getting back in the market? Let's join Joe and Susan who are having coffee and wondering what to do next. Susan says: "Should we jump in now? You know the market has come a long way from the bottom, almost 700 Dow points. Do you think we'll get more on the upside?"

Joe, who is very cautious, says: "My gut tells me to stay in cash, even though some headlines are touting that the economy is getting better.The news media reported that pending home sales and construction spending rose. Why look at how mortgage rates are falling."

In February I interviewed Bill Gross back when the Dow traded at 7,182. Gross's message? Equities are dead. Or more specifically, in light of his expectation that there would be no economic growth for the foreseeable future, there was no point in risking an investment in common stock since it stands in line behind all sorts of debt for a piece of the cash flows of a company in the event of a bankruptcy.

Interestingly, President Obama spoke to reporters not long thereafter -- on March 3rd to be specific when the Dow was at 6,726 -- and during that talk, he mentioned that buying stocks might be a good deal. Since then, the Dow has risen 21.5% and since Gross recommended staying away from stocks, they've gained 13.8%. The Dow is at 8,175 as of this writing.

There is an index called the Markit iTraxx Crossover Index that measures the cost of protection against junk-rated companies in Europe defaulting on debt-using credit default swaps. It is watched very closely because it indicates sentiment in the credit markets.

The iTraxx Index hit its highest level in its five-year history, implying that a record number of sub-investment grade companies in Europe are getting closer to being unable to meet debt obligations.

Stress was also evident in the short-term money markets, with the spread between sterling overnight market rates and London interbank rates rising to 164 basis points from 127 basis points in January.

This post was written by Minyanville Executive Editor Keving Depew.

Quick: the next 700 points on the S&P 500; up or down?

I remember when that question required some thought, around 1200 or so. Regardless, it is interesting to me as someone who also manages some longer-term investment accounts (with time frames exceeding 10 years) that people seem to be more concerned with the direction of the next 100 points than the next 700.

From the get go this morning we knew the Dow Jones Industrial Average was going to open below 7,000, and the way things are going now, it looks like it will close below (far below) 7,000 as well. These levels were last seen over 11 years ago, in 1997.

As the trading progressed, we also saw the S&P 500 blow through its November lows and starts flirting, to the horror of many, with the 700 level -- 704.27 was its low so far today.

And still, the Nasdaq remains above its November 2008 lows. How come, and will it last?

The way stock futures are looking this morning, it's quite possible we'll see the Dow Jones Industrial Average -- now at 7,063 -- drop below 7,000 today. At the very least, with U.S. stock futures declining so much, Wall Street may see sharp losses at the open as AIG (NYSE: AIG) reported yet another massive quarterly loss and received yet more government funds. Other items on investors' minds this morning include HSBC (NYSE: HBC) announcing it would raise more capital and Warren Buffett saying the economy will be in "shambles" this year and perhaps longer.

Today also marks the beginning of a new month, after February was recorded as the worst month for stocks since 1933. And yet, despite the already mammoth drops bringing the indices to 12-year lows, some fear this is just going to continue. With economic activity dropping 6.2% as reported Friday, far worse than expected, this may not be surprising.

We live in the craziest, upside down world you can imagine. In years past at rise in consumer prices threw the markets into a panic, signaling that inflation was rising a getting out of control. But that was then and this is now.

Today the Labor Department said that the consumer price index rose .3% after dropping .8% in December. Voila! The inflation news is now good news. Why is inflation good news? It is good news because it means that we are not deflating. Even Bernake said that we simply cannot have deflation. He stated an inflation goal of 1.5% to 2% for the coming years. You see in this upside world, deflation is when prices fall, and since we don't want that, we now love it when prices rise -- that's inflation.

Yep, you guessed it. Someone has devised an index to track the value of international and marketable art works. Michael Moses, founder of the Mei Moses Art Index, uses the recent auction prices of museum quality art to determine the appreciation of various works of art.

So now, let's take this a step further. Suzanne Gyorgy is the head of the art division for Citibank(NYSE:C). When she looked at the balance sheets of bank customers, she found that many of them included works of art as an asset group. Being creative and seizing on an opportunity, she set up a loan division at Citi that specializes in collateralized loans based on valuable art works. A client can obtain a loan of up to 50% of the underlying value of the art. To determine its value, Ms. Gyorgy has a nine member team of specialists in this field. Once the value is determined the loan can be made. Most loans fall between $5 million and $100 million.