Many analysts and traders will cite fundamentals or technicals to explain why the market might or might not rally from this level. In the end, it all comes down to sentiment and market dynamics.

In these volatile times, traders are known for rapidly switching from euphoric optimism to gloomy pessimism. For evidence of this you simply need to watch Cramer for several weeks in a row. I've found that in any given longer-term period, Cramer has a huge tendency to "flip-flop" on his opinions of companies, industries, and the overall market. But he's not to blame -- nearly all of Wall Street's short-term players are like this.

Truth is, the most recent downturn in the market (excluding Thursday and Friday) was much more than noise, and I firmly believe that the Fed cutting rates saved the market, at least over the short term (futures were pointing way down for Friday before the Fed raised).

However, I think the market has to rally if Monday is an up day. Why? Because Wall Street players, which had been so powerfully negative on the market over the last few weeks, will have to shift their position on the markets and increasing their "net-long" exposure. In doing so, they will likely be forced to cover some shorts and add to some longs -- increasing demand for stocks. I believe that this factor was a primary cause of the rocketing market on Friday and, from who I've spoken to, many funds have no adequately adjusted their net-long exposure and are waiting for a "confirmation move" on Monday.

I don't think I can count how many times I have heard in my career "you can always count on Coca-Cola, no matter what condition the economy is in." It's as true today as ever. With the markets reacting in a volatile manner, globally, Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) is as solid as a rock. This $125 billion market capitalization company is only $2 off of its 52-week high of $56.71. The dividend yield is a solid 2.5% and Coca-Cola has a nice history of raising the payout.

Coca-Cola is one of the world's most recognizable brands. Coca-Cola was a global company before most of us knew what "globalization" meant. It is one of the United States most important exports. Besides the flagship product of Coke, the company also markets consumer favorites like Diet Coke, Fanta and Sprite. Latley, the company has expanded its product offerings to include bottled water as health-conscious consumers have gravitated to this sector of the beverage industry. Coke has successfully diversified its revenue and earnings base by expanding to this valuable part of the industry.

The amazing aspect to the Coca-Cola story is how professional portfolio managers view this company. The revenue and earnings growth rates are only about 10%, but yet Coca-Cola sports a hefty price-earnings multiple of 24 times. Portfolio managers have such confidence in the quarterly performance of Coca-Cola and the absolute consistency of its numbers that many refer to Coca-Cola as "the sleep well stock." This means they do not have to worry quarter-in and quarter-out about Coca-Cola achieving stated expectations: it's virtually automatic.

Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) has become the discount retailer of choice as demonstrated by the actual key metric --same store sales. Target has beaten its principal rival Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) 46 of the last 47 months in the head-to-head match up of same store sales.

Bottom line is Target is capturing and maintaining market share gains. The good news is Target's story has more growth prospects in front of it. Target is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota and was established back in 1902. The company was a division of Dayton's, an upscale retailer that had its core presence in the Northwest. Target stores were the after-thought. Target emerged in the 1990's as THE growth vehicle for Dayton's and eventually, the company was re-named Target and the Dayton stores are now part of Macy's. Things do indeed change!!

With a store base of 1,684 spread over 47 states, Target has the room to more than double the base over the next decade. In comparison, Wal-Mart has more than 4,000 stores in the United States alone. Target stores present a more pleasant shopping experience for the customer and have a fresher offering of products. Bottom line is people enjoy shopping at Target and the same store sales numbers completely reflect that fact. The fashions, cosmetics, linens, housewares, sporting goods, etc. are as up-to-date and fashionable even when compared to full-price retail concepts.

Is it possible for the Phoenix to rise out of these over-leveraged, overrated, financial ashes? Can the stock market reverse direction without the Federal Reserve Board taking action and reducing interest rates?

We're all so smart, but at any given moment we might have to don the dunce cap. I am eating humble pie with the rest of you -- worse I'm losing money on a few things (or would be if I sold something) so this is all very real. However, to my fellow long term investors it is all just a blip on the huge screen of investment perspective over time.

Not too long ago I was reading some Cramer stuff regarding how this market would be rising higher through the second half of the year. It used to be that he had plenty of good advice amid his periodic rants, now you have to listen very, very carefully to glean some insight because the ranting and raving have completely dominated and over taken him at times. To the infrequent observer you might think he has lost contol of his senses or even worse. He certainly has no shame.

One of my more knowledgable collegues Georges Yared posted Three reasons the Dow will reach 15,000 by year-end -- and six stocks to buy about a month ago. I do recommend you read the post and there is much to be learned, however, of all the thoughts enumerated the following seems to be the most relevant (and wrong) in today's market.

• "Mortgage market should stabilize: The US markets were trying to decipher the sub-prime mortgage mess back in April, and here in June they are still trying. The issue has not gone away, but the major banks appear to be handling the problem."

Well, the major banks DO NOT seem to be handling the problem. I think the problem is bigger than many of them. And Georges and I have underestimated the fear that has beset the market which promted me to write: Sunday Funnies: Last one out is a rotten egg! As far as the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaching 15,000 by the end of the year, that appears, for now, to be a bit of a stretch.

Those of you who are new to BloggingStocks can check out my other stories and read Chasing Value or Serious Money to find more potential opportunities and verify my track record as well -- INCLUDING ANY BAD CALLS.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm.

Plenty of investment guru's have suggested buying on fear and selling when greed reaches its pinnacle. Well I think the fear side is self evident but I'm not hearing about many analysts who are brave enough to buy right now. As a matter of fact I only hear that this would be a very foolish time to invest in the financial sector, in particular, any stocks with sub-prime or "Alt-A" mortgage exposure.

For this reason, contrarian that I am, I thought I would speak out about my recent BAD CALLS, or at least very premature calls, and start tracking them for all to see -- accepting the ribbing, tomato-throwing and blunt comments about the error of my ways.

I own four of the five stocks I will be following for the next year, Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC), IndyMac Bancorp Inc. (NYSE: IMB), Popular Inc. (NASDAQ: BPOP), and Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM). I wrote favorable comments on each and in the case of WM, more than once. Needless to say, I am under water on all of them. I do not own Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) but it will make for a fine pace car in the middle of this storm.

One of the BloggingStocks editors recently instant messaged me and said, "You know, I think technical analysis is bull." I've heard this opinion very frequently, and I've even held this opinion in the past. But from watching stocks for several years I've seen certain price moves that seem to occur again and again. Sure enough, these movements are some of the most fundamental elements of technical analysis; for example, support, resistance, uptrend, etc. I've seen many people who don't know any technical analysis but reference a stock's breakout on its "graph" -- just from watching stocks trade, they have realized this is often a sign of future profits to come.

As I began studying technical analysis more frequently, I learned more about the skill -- moving averages, indicators, oscillators, and so on. Many of these tools, in my opinion, do in fact have predictive value in the stock market. More importantly, these tools allow traders to more effectively and systematically (therefore, less emotionally) manage their money.

All this being said, I think the editor was right in one regard -- I have a lot of trouble believing in patterns (e.g., "Head and Shoulders") because I think that many of these are way too objective when it comes to trading. I also find that they are harder to explain than many other tenets of technical analysis, such as support and resistance.

I've been on all sides of the technical analysis argument -- extraordinarily against, emotionally for, and everything in between. As it stands now, I feel like it's just another tool in the toolbox for a trader and there's no reason not to consider it.

With the strength of this year's equities market, one major company that has not participated in the updraft is Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX). Actually, quite the opposite has happened as the shares have gone from about $36 down to the current price of $26.07. Down ten points has been disappointing, especially in a bull market, but I believe the time has come to re-examine this company and start buying the stock.

The Dow Jones is up over 11% for the year so far and the euphoria on Wall Street has certainly hit Main Street. The one sector that has not participated in this rally is major U.S., large-cap banks. The stock performance of the major six banks has been as low as down 10% to flat -- in other words lousy. The six major banks are Citigroup (NYSE: C), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), Wachovia (NYSE: WB) and Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM) and JP Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM). So is time to start nibbling away at these stocks?

Back on February 21, I began a series of articles on Crocs Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX). I have been recommending the stock to the members of the Insiders Insights club of my website since late 2006, when the stock was trading at $40 -- that's before the 2-for-1 split. Those shares are currently at almost $94. On a split basis the stock is above $46. Basically, my members have more than doubled their money in the past six months. Great investment, good timing. What to do now with this controversial company? Where can it go from here?

Since its upside surprise when it reported last quarter, enterprise software giant Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) has continued with its philosophy of growth through acquisition by acquiring LODESTAR Corp., which supplies software solutions to utilities, as well as product lifecycle management leader Agile Software Corp. (NASDAQ: AGIL). And the share price has been trending upward the past three months.

Beginning Monday June11, thousands of very technically talented people will descend into San Francisco for the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2007. The conference runs through Friday June 15. There are over 100 separate and distinct technical presentations and mini-lab sessions on the schedule. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) will use the opportunity to make sure everyone in attendance gets a beta-copy of the new Leopard operating system, due out in October, and of course the buzz will be the new iPhone.

My friend and colleague Georges Yared has been unabashedly bullish on shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), and his buy call has looked nothing short of brilliant for a long time:

The next company in my ongoing series of the top 25 stocks for the NEXT 25 years is Wind River Systems (NASDAQ: WIND). Wind river is headquartered in Alameda, California, and has a market capitalization of $925 million. Wind River Systems is a technology company that virtually touches our daily lives, and yet 99% of us have no clue what Wind River does or how it affects us!