As you know, I’ve been expecting the market to suffer in the early part of this year, which has been generally good so far.  Today, negotiations have broken down over the Greek debt.  The probablility of disorderly default has increased considerably.  This afternoon, it is expected that France will also lose its AAA credit ratings and rumored other European nations will also be downgraded.

As a result, all the European markets (except Greece??) are down, and the Dow is down almost a hundred points.  The Euro has dropped below $1.27, which drives up the dollar, which drives down gold and, over the long-term, our exports.

Is this the beginning of the bear market I feared?  Nobody knows . . .