This was another day mostly in and out of the red. The true closing bell levels were up in the air until the close. Japanese data and Chinese data led the headlines now that China has a larger economy than Japan. Education stocks were weak on steady pressure and many other sectors were seeing a mixed bag as the markets tried to balance between bears and bulls.

Here were the unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow Jones 10,301.86 -1.29 (-0.01%)
S&P 500 1,079.37 +0.12 (0.01%)
Nasdaq 2,181.87 +8.39 (0.39%)

Apollo Group, Inc. (APOL) closed down $1.51 to $38.96. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said his department will increase oversight of federal student financial-aid programs in a letter to Senator Harkin, according to Bloomberg. September put option implied volatility is at 53, November is at 54; above its 26-week average of 48 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

US Bancorp (USB) closed down 20c to $22.24. USB overall option implied volatility of 35 is above its 26-week average of 32, according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

CBOE Mini-NDX-MNX down $1.18 to 182.03; overall volatility at 20.

Options Update is by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

It seems as if everyone is worried about the economy going into a double-dip recession these days. Worry in and of itself can be very destructive, both to your mental state and to the economy overall. Besides pulling out your hair, causing acid reflux and other health problems, worry can actually become self-fulfilling prophecy and cause the very thing you are most afraid of.

A number of years ago when I read Dale Carnegie's book How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, one method he suggested was just to accept the worst case scenario and then move on with life from there.

So accept it: THE ECONOMY IS DOOMED! it's going to be 10 years of economic nightmare!

Now what?

Imagine taking the personal connections and interactions that occur every day on the likes of Facebook and Twitter... and bringing them to bear on an education. To a large extent, this hasn't been done yet, but the potential is profound. In a new report by the Center for Community Survey for Student Engagement, two-year programs aren't taking advantage of the tools at their disposal -- plenty of growth is still possible. Kay McClenney, director of the CCSSE, says, "Colleges are not taking advantage of that particular set of tools for making connections with students to the extent that they could."

The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), a distributor of business information and educational materials which counts Scholastic (NASDAQ: SCHL) as a related stock, issued third-quarter results earlier today. Sales contracted over 8%. Net income on a dollar basis dropped almost 14%. Earnings per diluted share decreased a very unlucky 13% to $1.07. At least expectations were taken out. Earnings.com indicates a beat of two pennies for per-share profit.

The declines are pretty understandable. When you think about McGraw-Hill, you understand fairly quickly that the company's business model is tied closely to the economy. Education markets must be tough given all the budget cuts happening in school systems across the country. Plus, spending by administrators is probably done these days very slowly and carefully.

A new bill that would revamp student loan programs in the United States passed the House of Representatives. The proposed program, which would affect the largest change on college aid since they came into existence in the 1960s would push private lenders out of the business and put the U.S. government in control.

The new measure would end subsidies for private lenders, increase Pell Grants available for students in financial need, and create grants for community colleges. The proposal includes almost all of President Obama's key points on higher education from the campaign trail. It passed the House 253 – 171, with most representatives sticking to party lines.

President Obama was in Cincinnati yesterday, where he spoke to a group of union members at a picnic. While he was on his way here, the White House released a statement noting that "working Americans will help our nation emerge from this crisis." Nevertheless, the President believes that the country still faces a "vast and complex" economic crisis. Here is the problem, with a dwindling American workforce, President Obama says that it will be the working Americans that pull the nation out of the economic crisis. Last time we checked (and that was last week), the jobless rate was 9.7%.

Students from 12 high schools in Alabama have been benefiting from a education program founded by the world's largest oil company, Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM).

Students in the Advanced Placement Training and Incentive Programs in Alabama's Jefferson County and Montgomery saw a very impressive 81% increase in passing scores in Advanced Placement math classes.

With the chances of finding a job fairly slim, people are certainly thinking about starting -- or even buying -- a business. But, which industry to go into?

It's a tough decision. Yet, there are still opportunities. To get some insight on this, I had a chance to talk to Toon van Beeck, who is the senior analyst with IBISWorld. Let's take a look:

More dark clouds for your silver lining. The Beige Book numbers came in today showing continuing mild deflation. The report, published eight times per year, is a compendium of anecdotal insights from the various Federal Reserve Banks.

A report out of Harvard University shows that income inequality in the U.S. that has ballooned since the 1970s is the result of an gap in educational attainment by U.S. children and workers. Prior to that period, children were almost always better educated than their parents. No longer. And fixing this one is going to be tough as the general cultural perception still holds that professional degrees are more important than pure scientific degrees. Lastly, as oil continues to rise, concerns are surfacing that high oil prices could halt the recovery or at least slow down the rebound.

Alex Salkever is the Director of Research at Piqqem.com, a stock prediction community powered by the Wisdom of Crowds

This post is part of a special annual report -- Top Stock Picks '09 -- in which TheStockAdvisors.com asked 75 leading newsletter advisors to select their favorite investment for the new year.

"Apollo Group (NASDAQ: APOL), my top pick for 2009, has been an education provider for over 30 years," says Kevin Kennedy, a specialist in quantitative and momentum analysis.

The editor of The Coolcat Report explains, "The company's revenues and earnings have been steady despite the negative economy."

The advisor continues, "Apollo Group provides academic access and opportunity to more than 350,000 students through its subsidiaries, which include University of Phoenix.

"Other divisions include the Institute for Professional Development, College for Financial Planning, Western International University, Meritus University, Insight Schools and Apollo Global. It also owns Aptimus, a provider of innovative digital media solutions.

"The company's educational programs and services are provided at the high school, undergraduate and graduate levels in 40 states and the District of Columbia; Puerto Rico; Alberta and British Columbia, Canada; Mexico; Chile; and the Netherlands, as well as online throughout the world.

China will remain a major low-cost center for manufacturing, but it is egregiously incorrect and irresponsible to say it represents the landscape -- the sweep, if you will -- of the manufacturing horizon, says economist Richard Felson.

"Many low cost products will be made in China, and elsewhere, but better products can and will be made in the United States, if we plant the seeds for those industries today," Felson said.

This decade, which many economists call the U.S.'s 'decade of descent,' has been a lost decade concerning manufacturing. A failure to invest in the nation's manufacturing, technology, and basic research segments "has left the United States grossly underinvested, from physical plant and capital investment standpoints," Felson said. "The U.S. auto sector is probably the best known example of this. It is a manufacturing tragedy."

U.S. can seize the high end

The solution? Invest in industry, basic research, and technology to re-grab the high-end, and beyond, Felson says.

Think next-generation cars, he says. Think even more efficient jet engines and power systems. Think solar technology. Think wind power. Think smart electric grid. Think expanded universities to train the civil, mechanical, and electrical engineers needed to develop the innovative, energy-efficient, and smart systems of tomorrow.

This post is part of a series where personal finance expert Dan Solin looks at money secrets that help the rich stay rich. See the first five secrets.

I give a lot of talks to groups of investors. I like to ask this question:

How many of you made most of your money investing in the stock market?

Very few hands go up.

I get the same result when I ask: How many of you know someone who made most of his or her money investing in the stock market?

Let's drop to the bottom line:

Rich people invest in themselves.

Poor people invest in "things" that give them instant gratification, like plasma screen TVs and flashy cars.

I don't mean to be glib. Rich people can afford education and great health care. Poor people often can't. A great education and good health positions rich people to get richer.

Financial winter is here and the temperature of the market seems to be dropping anew. Credit markets are frozen and the line for government handouts grows by the day. There is no easy fix to the morass.

That much is clear.

As such, we will have plenty of time to contemplate exactly where it is we want to go from here. Hopefully, we won't make the same mistakes twice, and, in that way, some good may come out of the carnage after all.

We all know how we got into this mess. Greed and debt led to asset value growth that was unsustainable. The piper is calling in a major way.

He'll have plenty of listeners, mainly those now unemployed. Job losses are growing by the minute with some speculating that unemployment rates will grow to 10% or more before this recession is finished.

Certainly, the craziness in the mortgage market with its Wall Street accomplice had much to do with our troubles today. But then again, so did weakness in our education system. Shortcomings there have as much to do with job losses to overseas competition as anything else.

Most winners in play-money investing games end up wishing they'd invested real dollars. Not in this year's Stock Market Game for students in grades four through 12, run by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. Well, except for that team that shorted Wachovia Corp. (NYSE: WB) in late September; they managed to more than double their fake money.

The lessons learned may be exactly the opposite of those the Securities Industry board had hoped.

The kids started the game shortly after school began this fall, so most students have experienced a steep slide in their faux portfolios. One student had it worse: he played the game last year and decided to try it out this year with real money, saving his birthday and Christmas money to buy into a mutual fund. Now he's afraid to open his statements (his fund is down 44.9% this year).

Michael Ashworth, a 13-year-old Delaware middle schooler interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, had been getting excited about investing and had asked his mother for stocks for Christmas. After the market downturn? "I told her not to do it. I asked for a parakeet instead," he said.

Perhaps the rest of us would do well to follow the lead of Mr. Ashworth. If not a parakeet, perhaps a flock of chickens?