It's worldwide and it's deepening. We know that. It has transcended residential real estate, transcended commercial real estate. We know that too. The battlegrounds are now unemployment and rates that are too high worldwide because it is obvious we cannot pull ourselves out of this one.
That's why this week is unfortunately so crucial. It is going to be difficult to advance ahead of Thursday's European rate show and Friday's unemployment number, although the force of this market is to run ahead of these key numbers, not behind, as the dominant force remains short covering and these are events worth covering shorts for.
What do we need to see? We want full-point reductions in rates in England and Europe, something that seems pretty doubtful but are as necessary as they were in this country last year. We need to see China making a definitive plan to put millions of people to work in infrastructure projects that absorb gigantic surpluses in minerals. We need to see some risk-taking and some financing and some taking advantage of the, in some cases, absurd declines in stocks of companies like United Technologies (NYSE: UTX) (Cramer's Take) or Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) (Cramer's Take) or General Electric (NYSE: GE) (Cramer's Take), companies that tell us they have financing and can do things. We need to see the consumer spend, but, alas, that will simply not happen on any level we need if unemployment creeps to 10%.
Closing Bell: Can't go up every day (BAC, HE, HPW, COMS, BRCD, WMT, AMD)
Wal-Mart grows profit and cash flow in Q3, but comps still ailing
Chasing Value: Ten stocks for 2010 -- Part 2
